If I Had Never Seen You
by SlytherinsScribe
Summary: What would happen in Vaughn from my stories CUB and TCL had never met Harry Pre-hogwarts? Well, it's a lovely story in which: Harry hates Dumbledore, Vaughn hates muggles, Remus is Sable and Ferret's neighbor and Vaughn does very ungryffindorish things.
1. Chain Reaction

Intro: Okay, this is an AU of an AU. My story CUB and it's sequel TCL talk about the Pack which is a group of five orphans that Harry meets at the beginning of CUB. When I asked for challenges at the end of TCL, I received only one: what would happen if Harry had never met Vaughn and the Pack, but they did exist. This is that story, enjoy!

If I Had Never Seen You

Chapter 1

Lynette sighed as she did the dishes for Old Lady Mitchell, an elderly woman who had lived alone in her house in Surrey before she had adopted Lynette. Lynn was fourteen now, nearly fifteen, and had been living outside of the Pack for two years now, and could barely remember the last time she had been called Lulu, her Pack name. The whole Pack had been dispersed around the world when they had finally gotten caught, all five of them. The worst part had been her separation from her younger sister Vaughn, who would be nine in a few days' time.

_She'd been sitting in the dark interrogation room for hours, alone and waiting nervously, when two officers finally came in. One stood with his arms crossed by the door, while his younger counterpart sat across from her at the table. It was the one sitting who spoke, "Hello, I'm officer Whitman, and this is my partner, officer Sykes. Sorry you had to wait so long."_

"_I'm sure you are," She said bitterly._

"_Why don't we just get this started, what's your name?" Officer Sykes demanded, casting a disapproving eye on her._

"_Lynette Milthorpe."_

"_And the girl with you?"_

"_Vaughn Milthorpe,"_

"_Your sister?"_

"_Obviously."_

_Whitman took over asking questions, all the while scribbling on a little note pad. Age, time with the Pack, how did her parents die. Whitman sighed heavily when she answered no when asked if she had any living relatives. Whitman stood and talked quietly to Sykes. The room was wearing on her nerves, and the bandaging on her elbow and both knees itched. She had gotten hurt when she tripped while running from the cops, that's when she had gotten caught._

"_When can I see my sister?" She asked, unnerved to see both officers turn to her with matching looks of pity._

"_You can't." Sykes answered bluntly, "Our psychological examiner has declared her mentally unstable and depressed. Since she has no living relatives, other than a twelve year old sister, she will be sent to an orphanage made for mentally unstable children."_

Lynn had known Vaughn was depressed, she spent all her time with the Pack, all of which were at least six years older than her. She may have come to see the Pack as her family, but a girl that young needs to be around kids her own age. Running away from the police doesn't give you those kind of opportunities.

"_But what about me?" Lynn asked after the shock had worn off._

"_We're going to introduce you to Ms. Mitchell," Whitman replied in a reassuring tone, " She's getting to be up there in age and wants to adopt a girl about your age to live out her days with."_

_Lynn blanched, "That's… great."_

Ms. Mitchell had adopted her almost immediately. Lynn hadn't even seen Vaughn before she went to an orphanage out in the country that was paid for by this rich old man. Orville's Orphanage for the Mentally Unwell. As for the rest of the Pack, they're spread out. Stalker got adopted by a latino family and is living somewhere in South America. Sable had tried to make a life for himself, he had a job and had gotten a flat in London, a few months back he had sent letters saying the Pack could visit or move in if they wanted to. Lynn never did hear the final outcome, but Ferret was either living with her grandparents in America, or her Aunt in St. Ottery Catchpole.

**Orville's Orphanage for the Mentally Unwell**

Ms. Jacobs, headmistress at the orphanage, wondered for the umpteenth time why she hadn't retired during the last two years. Mentally ill enraged children, she could handle, but one small eight year old girl, she could not. The girl was quiet, and seemingly one of the more sane children at the orphanage, but odd. She would say the most bizarre things, and sure enough, they would happen. Like the blizzard last June. Other times, violent or inexplicable things would happen that the entire staff thought was her fault, but there was no proof. Today, it was the mysterious death of a pet mouse that belonged to a girl that had always clashed with a certain troublesome eight year old.

"Vaughn!" Ms. Jacobs called sharply as she entered the first floor girls' dorm.

The girl in question was sitting on the bed at the far end of the room, closest to the windows. She turned around to look at Ms. Jacobs, but didn't say a word.

"Rebecca's mouse was killed," Ms. Jacobs began, "Do you know what happened to it?"

"It deserved to die," Vaughn replied darkly, "But I didn't touch it."

Ms. Jacobs was not amused, "Well, someone did."

"Perhaps it was an animal."

"There was no blood or any marks on it at all."

Vaughn raised an eyebrow challengingly, "How on earth could a kid like me kill something and not leave a mark? It was probably just sick."

"It wasn't sick, it was an unnatural death."

Vaughn shrugged innocently, "It was evil. Besides, how could a girl like me kill it without leaving a mark?" Ms. Jacobs realized that she wouldn't be able to make a valid, so ordered Vaughn to make her bed, and left.

A smile slid onto Vaughn's face when Ms. Jacobs was gone, she had talked her way out of trouble again. Besides, Rebecca's mouse had been evil, it had bitten her ten times in the last week alone, and Rebecca was covered in bite marks. Vaughn had never been fond of rodents, which is why she had slain the evil mouse, Sir Wiltshire. Vile Beast. It hadn't been hard, she had started a fire amidst it's vital organs, turning them to ash. Vaughn could do that, she was special. And not like the other orphans.

She made the last crease required for properly making her bed and noticed her left hand was trembling. That hand was one of the last parts of her that felt guilty. She shouldn't feel guilty though, she had been wronged worse. How? Well, she wasn't particularly sure, it was just a subconscious feeling that things weren't as they were supposed to be, like fate had been tricked and she was the victim.

"Vaughn," A male voice called from the door of the dorm. Dr. Fried, resident trauma psychologist at the orphanage. Of course, he wanted everyone to call him Alan instead so they would feel more comfortable around him. Vaughn hated him. Especially because he was always smiling, "Come, Vaughn, it's time for your weekly appointment."

Every kid at the orphanage had to see Alan at least once a week so he could evaluate any progress, or notice that they were slipping away from sanity. Vaughn reluctantly stood to follow him, "Might as well get it over with,"

His mouth twitched at her blatant disregard for the sessions, but regained composure and walked beside her smiling as they went to his office, or as Vaughn referred to it, the Room of Terror. The room was painted a bright yellow to try to cheer up the kids (Vaughn found the color ghastly), the room had toys and bean bag chairs for the kids to sit in, to make them more 'comfortable'. Vaughn felt it was too happy and sneered as she sat in the blue bean bag chair. Generally, the girls sat in the pink one, but after her first session, Alan had never tried to make her sit in that one again.

Alan sat in a regular office chair, got out her file and a pen, and asked the traditional first question, "How are you feeling today?"

It was the only question she consistently answered truthfully, "I feel alone."

Usually she had let her other emotions mask her loneliness, but today it wasn't enough, and Alan ran with the new information, "Why do you feel alone? The orphanage has one hundred and fifty-four children as well as twenty-seven adults on staff."

She glared at him, "I'm different, the kids here are trivial, weak-minded, infantile. I've seen every other person cry. I feel like I'm inhuman, I don't belong here."

"Where do you belong?"

"Somewhere that I'm not treated like a child half my age, and don't have my sanity questioned on a weekly basis."

Dr. Fried looked taken aback, but quickly made a jump to a conclusion, "Do you think any of this is because of your repressed feelings about your parent's deaths?"

"I wasn't even four years old at the time, the only things I know about my parents are what I've been told by people like you," Vaughn said sharply, "They may, however, have to do with being taken away from my real family, the Pack."

Alan sighed, "The Pack should not be thought of as your family, they were a group of delinquents running from the law that your wayward sister brought you into. You'll be better off forgetting about all of them."

"Sure, right after you forget your own family. I'm not going to get rid of every happy memory I have just because you think I'll be better off." Vaughn said sternly.

The look on Alan's face told her that they were moving onto ink blots. This was Vaughn's favorite part because she said that she saw the most bizarre and unrelated things just to mess with him. He sighed as he picked out four ink blots, "You know the drill, I show you a card, you tell me what you see. And please take this seriously."

"I always take this seriously," Vaughn replied with a sly smile.

Alan rolled his eyes and showed her the first ink blot.

"A bear riding a motorcycle."

He showed the next card.

"A pile of books, burning."

The third card was revealed.

"A cat caught in tangled Christmas lights."

And finally, the fourth card.

Her rehearsed answer caught in her throat as she saw the last card. For the first time, she could actually see a picture in the ink blot, and for some unknown reason, it scared her. Alan had to call her name several times to get her attention and then remind her to tell him what she saw. She spoke quietly, "It's a wolf, but his leg shouldn't be bending like that."

**Number 4, Privet Drive**

Harry Potter, who would be turning ten in just two months, knelt painfully in the garden as he did yard work. His leg hurt badly, but he knew the Dursleys weren't merciful enough to take him to the doctor, or at least let him rest. Besides, he wouldn't be fed if he didn't finish his chores. Uncle Vernon might even set Dudley on him, which is how he had gotten his leg broken in the first place. Or, he might do worse. He shook the thought from his head as he remembered his failed escape attempt from two years ago.

_Harry had been good all day, and the Dursleys were in an unusually good mood due to their dinner with the president of Vernon's company. Guaranteed promotion, he said. Harry had gone to his cupboard, and, surprisingly, been forgotten about. A few minutes after they left, he opened the cupboard with ease and slid into the hallway. He had been free until Vernon had burst through the door in a rush. He had forgotten the documents his boss had asked him to bring, and had returned to get them. His face turned purple and Harry was once again in his cupboard, this time behind a locked door and with a throbbing bruise on his face. He wasn't allowed food or out of his cupboard for a week._

"Hey Freak!" Dudley yelled from the back door, "Dad says if you aren't done in an hour, you'll wish you'd never been born."

"I already do."

"What was that?"

"Nothing, Dudley."

**Venezuela**

Sixteen year old Miles 'Stalker' Gonzales was sitting at a table, uncomfortable in the stupid black suit he had to wear for his adopted sister Cipriana's quincenera. A day made perfect for his sister, while he had to suffer ninety-eight degree weather in a black suit.

"I hate it here," Stalker said, "Me odio este lugar. That's probably not the right way to say it." One of his sister's friends winked as she walked past him. Stalker shrugged, "On the other hand…"

**Unplottable Mansion Somewhere Near Michigan in the U.S.**

"Oh bridget, you used to be such a nice young lady," Grandma Alyss said with pity, "What happened to the bright girl we used to know?"

"She was introduced to the real world, not this fake utopia you make the world out to be." Ferret replied venomously.

"That's no way to talk, even if you are a dirty squib, right Jacob?" Alyss asked her husband.

Jacob looked up, "Eh?"

"See, I'm right."

"No offense grandma, but he didn't agree with you. You may not have noticed, but he went deaf seventeen months ago. Probably from hearing this same argument over, and over, and over." Ferret pointed out.

Alyss huffed, "The fact remains, you come from a prestigious family of wizards, therefore, you should act with pride and be ladylike. Which doesn't include chopping all of your hair off."

Ferret rolled her eyes, her hair and been cut so it was shoulder length. However, her grandmother was insistent that a proper lady have long hair. Saying that she had no desire to be a proper lady hadn't gone over well, either. So, as she had done many times in the past, she ended the argument bitterly, "Why do I even bother arguing, in four months I turn eighteen and will move in with a friend of mine back in London."

"You keep saying that, who is this friend of yours?" Alyss asked.

"It's my friend Sable,"

"Is Sable her real name?"

"No, Sable is not his real name. It's Nigel."

The old woman stiffened, "A man? No granddaughter of mine is living with a man she isn't married to."

"Then perhaps you should disown me," Ferret said, then added, "Or perhaps I should obey your wishes. He is rather cute in all his muggle-ness."

"You are not marrying a muggle!"

"I'd like to see you stop me,"

**London**

A door slammed closed in a small apartment, and a black haired man of twenty threw down a small stack of letters addressed to Nigel Hawthorn. He hated using that name, but he wouldn't have been able to get the two bedroom flat and his two jobs without it. His main job was as an editor for a local paper, which he loved. His other job was unloading boxes for the four older men who worked at a deli down the street, although he disagreed that Remus could be called old. He didn't need the job, but his neighbor Remus was one of the nicest people he had met, and he hadn't been able to refuse when asked.

Sable leafed through the letters and smiled when he saw one that was addressed from Bridget 'Ferret' Prewett to Nigel 'Sable' Hawthorn. After notifying the Pack over a month ago that he was ready for visitors, Ferret was the first to get back to him. He opened the letter quickly and read:

_Dear Sable,_

_Sorry this is so short. My grandmother is insane. She thinks I'm a disgrace to the family and yelling at her deaf husband. It's a shame that neither of them think he's deaf. Anyway, when I turn eighteen on October third, I was hoping to fly over and steal the second bedroom in your flat. That is, if it's not already taken and you wouldn't mind me in your space. I'd get a job and split the cost of living. Oh, and my grandmother can't know, she thinks you and I will go at it like rabbits and have a flock of bastard children (her own words). She's insane. Let me know your answer and if you hear from the cubs!_

_Love, Ferret_

He gave a small smile, he and Ferret had always had control issues, but at least it would be some return to normalcy. He read the part about him and Ferret again. Them? Together? Like that could ever happen. For a moment he worried about the younger members of the pack, which he and Ferret secretly referred to as their cubs. He then wrote a reply that he would send in the morning.

**Orville's Orphanage for the Mentally Unwell (OOMU)**

After an afternoon of contemplating Vaughn's reaction to the final ink blot, Dr. Fried was finally able to talk to Ms. Jacobs. Unlike his own office, Ms. Jacobs' was reasonably more conservative, hardwood furnishings with pale blue walls. She looked up at him from behind her desk, "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"I'm concerned about one of the children, Vaughn Milthorpe."

Ms. Jacobs sighed, "What has she done now?"

"Well, nothing," Doctor Fried admitted, "I'm just a little concerned after my appointment with her today."

"Concerned how?"

"Well, as you know, Vaughn has always been a little off, has had a general hatred towards animals and has taken a liking to fire. She also has behavioral problems, but has always been able to talk her way out of it. I find all of this very unsettling."

"I'm not a doctor, you're going to have to tell me what that means."

"These are usually categorized as the early signs of a psychopath."

"It's about time she was diagnosed with a mental issue," Ms Jacobs said, "But why are you hesitating."

Dr. Fried bit his lip, "She actually saw something in the ink blot today, an injured wolf. With my previous diagnosis she wouldn't have reacted that way, she seemed frightened when she should have been unfazed by the image. However, it's unclear as to whether it's because she felt bad for the wolf or because she actually saw something, which is why my diagnosis remains unofficial."

"What do you mean 'actually saw something'?"

"She usually prepares a list of answers, and until today, never actually looked at the ink blots."

"Do you think this is a significant or isolated event?"

"I'm not sure, I was hoping you'd allow me to see her more frequently to make a better judgment of her condition."

"In the morning I'll tell her she will be seeing you twice week from now on."

_Dear 'Bridget',_

_Well, your grandmother seems __lovely__. I know we've had our differences, but I believe I can allow you to steal my spare room. Remind me about a week before your birthday so I don't forget. I haven't heard from the cubs yet, if I do, I'll let you know. And what was with the whole 'love Ferret' thing? It was a little weird._

_-Sable_

(A/N: I know this chapter is a little odd, I promise it will get to be more like my usual writing in a couple chapters. I have the first four chapters written, but not typed (don't ask, it's a long story) and I should be posting again this weekend. Please review and let me know that people are reading this.)


	2. Did she just call me a witch?

IINSY Chapter 2

**May 21, 1992**

Vaughn found herself lying wide awake at some ungodly hour of the morning for the second night in a row. Two nights ago she had a strange dream, the kind that seems too real to be held to the confines of the dream world. There was fire, yelling, and someone screaming as if dying, but what stood out the most was a huge mirror with writing she couldn't read. Vaughn had been afraid to go to sleep for fear she would have the dream again, or there would be a worse one. A glance at the large clock told her that it was nearing five in the morning, and looking around, the girls were fast asleep. Giving up all hope on sleep, Vaughn climbed out of bed and silently got dressed. After leaving the dorm, she wandered aimlessly around the halls without any real destination.

"Ms. Milthorpe?" Vaughn turned to see Ms. Jacobs coming out of her own rooms fully dressed, "What are you doing out of bed at this hour?"

Vaughn hesitated, "I can't sleep."

"Does Alan know?" Vaughn shook her head, "Well, why not? You've only been on your new medicine for a week, Alan needs to know if it's stopping you from getting to sleep."

"It's not the medicine," Vaughn replied, "I stopped taking it after the first dosage because I'm allergic. And yes, Alan does know about that."

Ms. Jacobs sighed, "Well, tell him about your problems sleeping the next time you see him. I'm actually glad I found you, a woman has called asking to talk to both you and me. Why it has to be at five-thirty in the morning is beyond me, though."

Vaughn followed Ms. Jacobs to her office as she was reminded what behavior was expected of her. She grew bored once Ms. Jacobs began repeating herself. Ms. Jacobs opened the door for both of them and smiled sweetly, "Well, we're all here now. Sorry for the wait Ms.- Oh dear, I seem to have forgotten your name."

"McGonagall," The woman replied with a faint scottish accent. She was an older woman, greying hair pulled back into a neat bun, and framed glasses rested low on her nose. Her prim skirt and blouse added to her strict appearance. Vaughn imagined her to be rather important, which made her puzzled as to why she would want to come here.

"Right, Ms. McGonagall. Vaughn, please take a seat as well." Ms. Jacobs sat behind her own desk as Vaughn sat in the chair next to McGonagall, who looked more like she was in charge that Ms. Jacobs, "So, may I ask about your business with Ms. Milthorpe?"

"The school I represent has recognized Vaughn for her abilities and would like her to attend our school for the next seven years." McGonagall replied crisply, probably a sentence she had said many times, only changing the name.

"Ah, I see. May I ask why you came today, and more importantly, at this hour?"

"Today is because it is Ms. Milthorpe's eleventh birthday, and I must do this now because my schedule for the rest of the day is teaching my students, and I do apologize that it has to be so early," McGonagall answered, "Now, I have only about an hour and there is much I need to explain."

"Such as?" Ms. Jacobs prompted.

McGonagall turned to Vaughn, "First and foremost, you're a witch,"

"Excuse me?" Vaughn said, forgetting all of Ms. Jacobs' rules about talking with guests.

"It's not an insult, you are a witch in the magical sense." McGonagall explained.

"What are you going on about? There's no such thing as magic," Ms. Jacobs insisted.

"That is where you are wrong, you see, I'm a witch," McGonagall made a show of pulling out her wand and levitating Ms. Jacobs' favorite framed photo of her and her nieces five feet above the desk, and then set it down gently before continuing, "I teach at the school Vaughn will attend, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"What do you teach?" Vaughn asked, her eyes shining since she first saw the wand.

"This can't be happening," Ms. Jacobs muttered, and was ignored by the two witches.

"Transfiguration, which is turning one thing into another." McGonagall answered.

"And what are the other subjects?"

"There's Charms, Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, History of Magic, and later you can choose to take Divination, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes or Muggle Studies."

"Will you stop spouting nonesense?" Ms. Jacobs interrupted, "Vaughn isn't a witch."

"She certainly is, she's what we call a muggleborn. A witch born of two non-magic parents." McGonagall could see that Ms. Jacobs didn't believe her at all, "Vaughn, have you ever done anything that there was no explanation for? Moved something without touching, or changed the size shape or color of something?"

Vaughn nodded slowly, "I turned Miranda's hair green when she made fun of me, then turned it back when she called one of the staff over. They thought she made it up.

McGonagall gave a small smile, "Incidents like that are common of untrained witches and wizards. Which is why she will be going to Hogwarts, to learn to control her magic."

"Is it normal for witches and wizards to know things?" Vaughn asked, causing McGonagall to look at her questioningly, "You know, see the future, and predict what wil happen, and be right."

"Has she predicted anything in the past?" McGonagall asked Ms. Jacobs.

Ms. Jacobs hesitated, "Yes, usually it's just odd weather, like the snow storm a few summers back. Also, when someone's going to get hurt, or something bad is going to happen. Whenever she's said something is going to happen, she's right."

"Well, it seems you have the gift of prophecy, which we usually call Seers," McGonagall said, obviously uncomfortable with the subject, "Now, Hogwarts does have spare robes and uniforms, which will be donated to you because you are an orphan, as well as text books passed on from older students. In fact, we just had a set of first year books donated in nearly mint condition. This Saturday, I will return to take you to get your wand, which we will leave in Ms. Jacobs' care until school starts. On September first you will be picked up either by me or another staff member at seven in the morning to take her to King's Cross station in London, though the orphanage will have to provide a ride in the future. You are okay with this, are you not, Ms. Jacobs?"

"Of course," Ms Jacobs agreed, her head spinning from the sudden onslaught of information when she was only half awake.

"Vaughn will also need to keep the magical world a secret from her fellow orphans. Since she will have summer homework for most, if not all, of her classes. I suggest that she is given her own room."

"Yes, of course, we have single person rooms for the older, more stable children, which she will be able to use. We can also say she is going to our therapy school during the year to give a reason why she's not here. No one ever checks the records anyway."

McGonagall didn't look particularly fond of that last part, "Lovely. Now, it there aren't any more questions, I would like to get to breakfast. I will be back Saturday at nine in the morning."

Vaughn smiled as the woman swept out of the room. She knew that she was special, and not like the other kids at the orphanage.

**May 24, 1992**

Ferret walked out of her room nervously to be met with Sable's stare. She sighed, "What?"

"You're wearing a dress." He stated.

"Yes I am, that's very observant of you."

"Why?"

"I'm going on a date tonight," Ferret admitted, then added, "Do you have a problem with that?"

Sable was quiet for a couple seconds and had an unreadable expression on his face, "I 'don't have a problem with it, have fun on your date."

**May 25, 1992**

Professor McGonagall had arrived at the orphanage at precisely nine in the morning to find Vaughn dressed and ready to go get her wand. Vaughn had already been awake for two hours that morning, which was impressive on a Saturday for the kids at the orphanage. She followed McGonagall to the edge of the property where she was surprised that there wasn't a car waiting for them. Professor McGonagall quickly explained, "We will be using magic to go directly to Diagon Alley, which is like a market place for wizards, and where we will be getting your wand. Now take my hand."

Vaughn looked suspiciously at the out-stretched hand, "What kind of magic?"

McGonagall was surprised, of all the orphans she had taken to get their first wands (Vaughn Milthorpe would be the fourteenth), none had ever questioned made of transportation before, "We will be Apparating, an instant transportation that wizards are taught instead of driving. Since you are underage, we will actually be using side-by-side apparation. Now, will you take my hand?"

Vaughn still seemed weary, but closed her eyes and took McGonagall's hand. After the trip, she made the distinct decision that she did not like traveling via apparation. She opened her eyes to see that they were in an alley way, with a wall of people walking by that blacked the entrance. Vaughn's mind jumped to the last time she had seen a crowd like this, it was when she had been captured along with the rest of the Pack and taken from her sister violently. She shook the thought from her mind as McGonagall pulled her into the busy street.

After several minutes of weaving through the crowd, they finally entered a building marked as Ollivander's wand shop. McGonagall rang the small bell on the counter as Vaughn looked around the dark and dusty shop that had small boxes haphazardly stacked on every flat surface, including the floor. A stout, balding man came from the back of the store and looked to Vaughn after giving McGonagall a fleeting glance, "McGonagall told me she'd be coming with a muggleborn to get their first wand today, let's get started, shall we?"

Ollivander pulled several boxes of wands off the shelf behind him, and took one from it's box. He handed it to her and she held it, staring at it dumbly. He mimed waving the wand, and she copied the motion, which unfortunately resulted in boxes falling off the shelf in a small avalanche. Ollivander shook his head and placed a different wand in her hand, and the same result came of that wand and the five that came after it. Finally, he disappeared into the depths of the shop to come back with a smug look and yet another wand that he handed her with a smile, "Eleven and a half inches, hawthorn with a dragon heartstring core."

Vaughn waved the new wand, happy to see it produce small fireworks rather than chaos. The two adults smiled once they realized they weren't going to have to dodge falling boxes of wands. Mr. Ollivander and Professor McGonagall talked for a few short minutes as Vaughn admired her new wand. This experience was short lived as McGonagall took it, and Vaughn couldn't wait until September first, when she would get it back.

**London, night of the 24****th**

It had been dark when Ferret returned from her date, and she had been surprised to see Sable was still awake. He had to work at six in the morning. She walked by him, hoping he wouldn't say anything, but he did anyway.

"So how was your date?" He asked, looking up from the article he was editing as he sat at the kitchen table.

"Like you care," Ferret said trying to edge pass him, but he lightly grabbed her elbow.

"I always care about the well-being of the Pack. So how was your date?"

Ferret finally gave in, hiding that she liked being asked about her boyfriends, "If I never see him again, it will be too soon."

"That bad, huh?" He said letting go of her and returning to his work.

"Yeah, he turned out to be a real jerk,"

"Most men are."

"Nice to know," Ferret said, "I'm going to bed."

"Alright, see you tomorrow," Sable said, and watched her leave the room out of the corner of his eye. He smiled, it might be mean-spirited, but he was glad the date had gone badly. If the guy was anything like the usual group of men Ferret dated, he wasn't good enough for her. Sable thought few men were good enough for her.

**May 27, 1992**

Harry Potter blinked his eyes open to see the all too familiar ceiling of the Hogwarts Infirmary. He slowly sat up on the bed he had been sleeping on, still not remembering exactly how he had gotten hurt - this time. He saw Professor Dumbledore sitting calmly in the chair next to his bed, an omniscient smile on his face. Harry didn't trust him too well, he felt there were too many secrets, but he didn't hold that against the man. Harry froze as the vague images in his mind formed concrete memories, "The Sorceror's stone?"

"Voldemort did not get it, you prevented that. Nicholas and his wife agreed to destroying it, for the greater good." Dumbledore explained, "In case you were wondering, it is the morning of the twenty-seventh of May, you've been unconscious for almost three days."

"What about Ron and Hermione?"

"They were able to leave the infirmary the next morning."

"Did- did you know what was going on?" Harry asked, remembering the suspicions that had arisen that would have made Dumbledore know everything, "You knew about it the whole year, didn't you?"

"Professor Quirrel was one of my staff members, of course I knew that Voldemort was in the back of his head," Dumbledore tried to explain to him, "Harry, you have to understand that I had very good reasons for what I did and did not do."

"What reasons are good enough to risk the safety of the whole student body?"

Dumbledore sighed, "Curiosity, I suppose. To see if you could defeat Voldemort again. To see if your mother's protection still worked, and would harm Voldemort's host. All of which were proven to be true. However, in my plan, I was to be nearby in case you needed my help."

"But you got called away, leaving three eleven-year-olds to deal with a problem you could have stopped on your own. Curiosity isn't a good enough excuse to put us in danger, I don't know why I ever trusted you," Harry said standing up, ignoring the pain he got from moving too quickly.

"Harry, you are in no condition to be walking around." Dumbledore said, trying to coax Harry back into the bed.

"Oh, so now you care for my well-being?" Harry challenged, pulling away from the headmaster.

"Mr. Potter, I have to agree with the Headmaster, you need rest. Get back into bed," Madame Pomfrey said emerging from her office with a stern look on her face that got Harry to obey immediately. She then turned to Dumbledore, "I'm going to have to ask you to leave though,"

"But Poppy-" Dumbledore tried to argue.

"I'm sure whatever it is can wait until he's better. However, at the moment you're stressing him out, and I want you out of my infirmary." Madame Pomfrey interrupted, and Dumbledore reluctantly left the infirmary.

Harry was curled up on the bed, refusing to look her in the eyes, and presumably curious about his bandaging. Poppy ran a quick diagnostic, he was healing quickly, and she could probably let him go to the end of the year feast tomorrow. She noticed Harry was looking at her and gave him her full attention as he said, "I don't remember hurting my leg."

He was, of course, referring to the wrap he had on his leg, "When I ran a diagnostic I noticed your leg had been broken and had healed off center, all I did was fix it."

She had known it had never been taken to a doctor, it hadn't even been set after being broken. Poppy couldn't even imagine why it wouldn't have.

**June 1, 1992**

Linda, a housekeeper at Orville's, felt a little nervous as a group of four teenage girls watched her strip down the bed that belonged to the infamous Vaughn. The girls were not happy that they were required to stay in the dorm while a mere eleven year old had been granted the sanctity of her own room on the second floor. Said eleven year old walked in the room with a superior look on her face that made the girls glare at her. She grabbed her bags, small for she had few possessions, and walked out of the room without so much as a glance back at her old room.

Vaughn went out of the dorm and up the stairs to the left, and took a right to the girls' apartments, small living areas with four rooms that branched off, each a private bedroom. Vaughn knocked on the door with the number 233 on it, and it was answered by three excited girls she would be moving in with. Christine, Ella, and Diane, all plain girls, but nice all the same. The girls showed her the room that was to be hers, the smallest of the four that had a single small window that showed a view of the front gates. Vaughn told them she wanted some privacy to get settled, and locked her door behind them. The lock on both sides of the door is why she had gotten the room and the key to it.

Vaughn reached into her bag, pulling out a book that was to introduce her to the magical world, but the words that had stuck with her were only in the intro. Two phrases: _'Though there is no real difference between purebloods and muggleborns magic-wise, muggleborns are often looked down upon by the magical community.' _and the second, _'Purebloods are considered to be the elite of the magical community, and while many old families are dark, they still have immense respect in the magical world.'_ It was then that Vaughn decided that she was going to fit in, and for once not looked down upon. Her whole life she'd heard people call her poor, an orphan, insane, and this was her chance to fit in. With a good enough story, no one would ever know she was a muggleborn.

-

(A/N: Chapter two typed, after a long, nearly inexplicable hiatus. I'll try to update more often. Next chapter, Vaughn goes to hogwarts and is sorted. Please review!)


	3. Gryffindor? I didn't get the Memo

IINSY Chapter 3

**September 1, 1992 8:57 AM**

Ms. Jacobs was waiting on the front steps of the orphanage with Vaughn as they waited for a representative from Hogwarts to pick Vaughn up. Vaughn had progressed oddly over the Summer, her attitude, poise, speech, and Alan said her mental state had changed. Not better or worse, per se, but definitely different. The only way to explain her new behavior was that it was a more social form of her same arrogance. While she used to think she was above the others and avoided them, now she would hang out with them with a bored look on her face. Most students were actually more frightened of her now than they had been before, and Ms. Jacobs regretted having to return the wand to her.

McGonagall walked through the gate at precisely nine in the morning, and greeted Ms. Jacobs cordially. Ms. Jacobs handed Vaughn her wand, which she pocketed in an almost robotic way. The two then walked off the property, and once out of sight of the school, side-by-side apparated to an empty back street near King's Cross Station. They walked through the crowd to get into the station, Vaughn glad that most of her possessions were already at Hogwarts because they were donated, leaving her with a small messenger bag that held the robes she would change into, a couple books, and a photo of the Pack she had been sent a year ago on her birthday.

McGonagall stopped at the brick wall between trains nine and ten, "Go through the wall, it's a portal to platform 9 and ¾, which is the Hogwarts Express. If you're nervous, it's advised that you go at a bit of a jog. After that, all you need to do is get on the train and follow the other first years when you get off the train."

Vaughn nodded, acknowledging that McGonagall would not accompany her further. She walked calmly towards the wall, closing her eyes when she expected impact with the wall, glad that it never came. Her eyes opened to find a nearly empty platform with a scarlet train. A glance at the clock told her that she had forty-five minutes before the train left. She relaxed as she climbed on the train and easily found an empty compartment, opening her potions text book as she waited for other students.

It was forty minutes later when the door to her compartment opened, and three boys walked in the compartment, closing the door after them, and she chose to ignore them. Well, she tried, it was difficult when the blonde boy sat next to her and calmly maneuvered her hands so he could see the book cover, then allowed her to resume her previous position.

"First year, huh?" The blonde said, and Vaughn just shot him an annoyed glance in return, and was a little surprised by how close he was sitting. The compartment was silent until a few minutes after the train left the station, when Vaughn realized that the boy was watching her with interest.

"Can I help you? Or are you just enjoying the sights?" Vaughn asked him after closing her book.

_A little of both,_ was the answer the boy was about to give, but her tone changed his mind, "What's your name?"

"Vaughn Milthorpe." She answered mechanically, "What about you and the goons?" She said indicating the two big but dumb looking boys that she though resembled bodyguards.

He laughed at her insinuation, "I'm Draco Malfoy, the one on the left is Vincent Crabbe, and the other is Gregory Goyle."

"Nice to meet you all," Vaughn said politely before trying to return to her book.

Draco stopped her, "Milthorpe… I don't recall that name in the pureblood families."

"Obviously you haven't been studying the Australian lines then," Vaughn said, reciting her lie based loosely on her actual family history, "My father was born and went to school in Australia, moving to England when he was nineteen, and both my parents died when I was only a toddler. That's why the Milthorpe family hasn't been heard of lately."

Vaughn was relieved when Draco nodded in belief, and was instantly glad that she had read up on the magical world. Otherwise, she never would have found it quite so easy to talk to Draco, especially when the conversation turned to Quidditch and houses. The ride passed quickly, and they were soon at Hogwarts, Draco assuring her she would be in Slitherin with him and that he would save her a seat.

Vaughn followed Hagrid along with the other first years, and looked at her boat partners with disdain. A girl named Luna, who spoke in a voice that you would expect of a fortune teller (which angered Vaughn because she considered it an insult to her abilities as a Seer), and an excitable boy named Colin Creevey that kept walking from one side of the boat to the other. He said he fell into the lake, and Vaughn let everyone believe that she had nothing to do with his fall. After all, it was only a small push.

**Great Hall - Hermione**

Hermione was - grudgingly - sitting with the twins, who seemed to think she knew where Harry and Ron were. She sighed, "I didn't even see them on the train."

The twins looked at each other and grinned, before saying, "Mum's going to be livid."

Hermione was momentarily distracted by an unsorted first year bragging that he had fallen in the lake.

**Great Hall - Vaughn**

_How the hell did she get into Ravenclaw?_ Vaughn thought as Luna made her way over to the clapping table, only to hear her own name called. She walked up to the stool and after slightly grimacing at it, she sat down. The sorting hat was lowered onto her head, and after a moment's hesitation, she was declared a Slitherin. Vaughn, once relieved of the hat, took her seat between Draco and another second year named Blaise, with Pansy and the goons across from them. She was easily accepted into the group.

After dinner began, they fell into easy conversation, starting with Pansy, "Does Lockhart make anyone else want to puke?"

"Yeah, I'd rather have st-stuttering p-p-professor Qu-Quirrel back," Blaise said, making the older four Slitherins laugh.

"Professor Quirrel was our defense against the dark arts teacher last year, of course he died in the last month of school." Draco explained.

"Where's Professor Snape?" Crabbe said, and Vaughn realized why he didn't talk much, he talked very softly, it didn't match at all with his build.

"Don't know," Draco said scanning the hall, "But Potter and the Weasel are gone too."

"Wait, Snape's here," Pansy said, and they watched Snape talk to McGonagall and both of them left with stern expressions, "Well, that doesn't bode well for the golden boy."

"Think he'll get expelled this time?" Blaise asked.

"He killed Quirrell and had no punishment, what makes you think this will be different?" Draco said.

"Quirrell was said to have had the dark lord in the back of his head," Blaise suggested.

"You believe that?" Pansy scoffed, "That was just a cover story to avoid punishing him."

**Gryffindor Common Room**

"Where are you two going?" Hermione demanded, stopping two boys in their tracks.

"Uh, bed?" Ron offered, Hermione shook her head and pointed to a couch in the common room., and they sat down.

"Why weren't you two on the train?"

"The barrier wouldn't let us through," Harry explained, "So, we ended up taking the Weasley's car, and crashed it into the one tree on campus that hits back."

"What kind of morons are you?" Hermione started, but was interrupted.

"Hermione, please, we already got told off by Snape and lectured by McGongall." Ron pleaded.

"We know it was stupid to not contact the school and we acted rashly." Harry added.

"Also, we caused trouble for the ministry because muggles saw the car,"

"And we will never do something as idiotic again, and if by chance we forget, we will break our own wands before the ministry does."

"Did we cover everything, or would you like to add?" Ron asked.

"Yes, I would like to add," She said to the boys' astonishment, "Leave me in a compartment with Luna, Ginny, Lavender and the Patil twins again, and I will be showing the nasty hexes I learned over the summer."

**Slitherin Common Room**

"Every other teacher is prejudice against us, but Snape gives us special treatment. He ignores our minor offenses, and like he just said, his office is always open if we need to talk to him." Draco explained to her after Snape, who he had said was their head of house, had talked to the whole house, "And he comes here on Thursday evenings to check on everyone."

"Wow, that's dedication." Vaughn said, realizing that in ways he was being like Alan, but immediately shook the thought as she heard her name called.

"Ms. Milthorpe," Professor Snape greeted, "I'd like to speak with you in my office."

Vaughn was confused, but nodded and said goodnight to Draco. The two left the common room and walked down the hall to Snape's office, and he told her to take a seat. Vaughn had to admit his office fit that of a stereotypical potions teacher, dark, dank and shelves of jars filled with things that she was fine with not knowing what they were. Personally, she liked the dark quality of the room.

"Ms. Milthorpe, welcome to Slytherin." Snape said when he was comfortably seated behind his desk, "McGonagall tells me you're a muggleborn, from what I understand, one of the few ever to be in Slytherin, perhaps the only one."

Vaughn raised an eyebrow, "Alright, I'm an oddity, is there anything else you'd like to tell me?"

Snape disapproved of her tone, "I saw you made friends with Draco, does he know that you're a muggleborn?"

She shook her head, "No, and I would very much rather it stay that way."

"You don't want to stand out or ostracize yourself from your new house?" Snape asked, and Vaughn decided that it would be easiest to nod, "Understandable, I felt the same way when I was sorted into Slytherin, only I am a half-blood. Most of the people I went to school with never knew. Now, onto more serious matters. I have been informed that you go to a school for the mentally ill."

Vaughn inwardly groaned, "Yeah, it's lovely."

"I can imagine," Snape said in a similar tone, "As your head of house I'm supposed to impress on you that you can come to me with any questions you have because you didn't grow up in the magical world. However, I did study for a few years to become a psychologist, and therefore have been asked to give you help. Alan Fried sent me a report saying you appeared to be getting better over the summer and that you shouldn't need medication. I'll give you the choice of your appointments being the formal one on one attention like you got from Alan, or, since you're friends with Draco, you could come with him to talk to me every Friday afternoon."

"Friday afternoon," Vaughn answered immediately and then thought about his wording, "Why do you talk to Draco on a weekly basis."

"He's my godson."

"Oh," Vaughn replied, in her research she had found that godfathers and godmothers were a more significant relationship in magical world than in the muggle. They were practically uncles and aunts, or perhaps closer to second parents, and most saw their godchild frequently. Vaughn yawned, "Is that all?"

Snape nodded, "I'll see you on Friday. Have a good first week."

**Care of Magical Creatures**

Professor Grumbly-Plank was an older witch, who during the first week of school had decided harmless creatures were the way to go. Of course Vaughn, and her lack of ability to do well in any situation involving animals had gotten injured. The Professor was currently wrapping bandaging around her thumb, where she had been bitten.

"Never in all my years of teaching has a student been bitten by a horklump." She mumbled, speaking of the mushroom that was actually a carnivore, "And I've been teaching at one school or another for forty-six years. Horklumps are peaceful creatures, but apparently they don't like you."

"Animals have never liked me," Vaughn assured her, "Seriously, I've been bitten by a gold fish."

The teacher looked at her in disbelief, and then shook her head, "It's going to be a long five years."

Care of Magical Creatures was definitely Vaughn's weakness, her next worse class being History of Magic, and she was one of the top students in that class, because she had always had an interest in learning more of magical culture. Next was Defense, but no student was doing particularly well in Lockhart's class. Charms came next, followed by Potions, and Transfiguration was her best subject. And still, no one had a clue that she was a muggleborn.

**September 5, 1992 - London**

Ferret sat at the dining room table reading, she worked as a librarian and she had been asked by her boss to read and review one on the fiction books. And while she had been more interested in what Sable called 'boring non-fiction crap', she had picked out a book that had an interesting cover and hoped for the best. It was a teenage love story, and overall okay, so it was a step above torture. When Sable walked in on her reading she did a double take, "Wow… you're dressed up."

Sable was wearing slacks, a collared shirt and a tie, and a frown, "Yeah."

"Well, where are you going."

"Dinner with Mira."

Mira Ently was the editor in chief of the paper Sable edited, his boss. Ferret frowned, "She's a slut."

"I know," Sable admitted, "But I have to go. She's introducing me to a friend who is in charge of the The Sun, as in, try to get me a job over there as a reporter."

"That's amazing, you've wanted to be a reporter for years. And The Sun is a big paper," Ferret paused, "Why would Mira give you that opportunity?"

His frown grew, "No dating co-workers."

"Oh,"

"At least, she thinks that's the reason I refuse to date her." Sable explained, "It's really because she's had four boyfriends that I know of - and she's married. I should get going though."

"Alright, see ya," Ferret said as she held the door for him, and afterwards just leaned against the doorway. Why did she feel like strangling Mira whenever Sable said her name? She'd never even met the woman.

"Well, I'd have to say you two are the most oblivious couple I've ever met." Ferret turned her head to look at their neighbor, Remus Lupin. A quiet man who was easy mannered, yet had three aged scars on his face and refused to tell the story. It was odd, neither Sable or Ferret though it was possible the man could anger anyone to the point of giving him scars. Yet, for once, Ferret found his company unwelcome.

"Would you mind explaining what you just said?" Ferret asked as nicely as she could.

Remus rolled his eyes, "You and Sable are completely oblivious to two facts. One is that you love the other one, and the other is that the other loves you. It's pretty sad."

"And I should take advice over whether someone loves me or not from a single man in his forties?" Ferret asked skeptically.

"Actually, I just turned thirty-two this year." Remus corrected.

Ferret blanched, "Oh, jeez, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say-"

"Don't worry about it, I've seen a lot, and everyone thinks I look older than I am." Remus said brushing it off, "But I have watched many couples fall in love, and you and Able are the only ones who have been completely oblivious to the fact."

"Okay, what makes you think we're in love?" Ferret asked, realizing that Remus wasn't likely to give this up any time soon.

"The way you watch him leave and sit in the doorway every time he leaves for the evening, the way you look at him when he isn't looking, the fact that you bring him lunch whenever he helps us out at the deli." Remus listed off, "The way it gets really quiet after you leave to go on a date, then ten minutes later Sable turns on music too loud, and it's always a tape of eighties love songs. Don't worry, it doesn't bother me at all."

"He does?" Ferret asked, numbly registering that Remus nodded, and something in her stomach fluttered making her feel distinctly like a lovesick teenage girl. She shook that feeling off and turned to Remus again, "Don't you have something better to do than keep on eye on me and Sable's personal lives?"

With that she turned on her heel and slammed the door to their flat, feeling not angry, but more like she had been invaded, and she was really confused to top it off. She wondered for a few minutes as to what she should do, and finally decided on investigating the claims that Remus made. She walked into Sable's room with ease and found the tape player, and pressed the eject button. Sure enough, the lettering read _Top 20 Love Songs of the '80's_. She put it back where she found it and went into her own room and curled up on her bed, confused. Did Sable, legally Nigel Hawthorn, really love her and play love songs while she was gone? A large part of her sincerely hoped that he did.

-

(A/N: Well, here's chapter three. I mainly wrote this today because I saw Harry potter 6 at midnight and had to write something, so I decided to start by adding a chapter to this. Though, it seems kind of pointless. In this story and my recent one-shot, I've gotten no reviews, even flames. Siriusly, **review if you're reading**, I need feedback!)


	4. Chicken Blood

IINSY Chapter 4

(As a reply to a review, Vaughn is pronounced just like Ron, only with a V.)

**September 24, 1992**

Vaughn stared blankly at her essay, half done and her brain was too fuzzy to think. Not the usual Saturday morning lag, but an actual buzzing that was really annoying. Enough so that she didn't hear Draco come up behind her, "It's Saturday morning, you really shouldn't be doing homework."

"Oh," She replied looking him in the eye, "Then what should I be doing?"

"You should come down to the pitch and watch my first Quidditch practice." Draco said, with the smug look on his face he got whenever he talked about becoming the new seeker.

"Alright, I can't focus on my potions essay anyways." she said capping her ink and standing up, she doubted anyone would touch her homework in the three hours she was gone.

She walked down with the team, a quiet walk because they were intent on practice, but it made the buzzing in her head fade to a murmur. She left them to go up in the stands, and soon began wondering why no one was in the air yet. She looked around the pitch to find a group talking, half in green, half in red. She sighed and went down the stairs in the stands until she was in the front row, a mere ten feet off the ground. She heard them yelling and knew it wasn't going well, and that there was more than just the Gryffindor Quidditch team. With this new information she climbed up on the ledge, and hopped down to the ground, her body jarring from the impact.

"No one asked your opinion, you filthy little mud blood." Draco snarled at Hermione, and the all the Gryffindors looked murderous, especially Ron. Strangely enough, Hermione and potter just looked confused.

"You'll pay for that Malfoy," Ron said and shot a spell - which promptly back fired, and he began vomiting slugs. Oliver Wood told Harry and Hermione to take care of Ron, and grudgingly told his team to leave, and walked off the field talking about a 'bloody note from Snape'.

_Mudblood_, Vaughn thought, then remembered it was a derogatory term for muggleborns, like her. Not socially acceptable to say, and proof that she wouldn't be accepted as a Slitherin if people knew. More incentive to keep it a secret.

**September 27, 1992**

Ferret watched Sable come in the flat with a smile on his face. He looked at her, "I got the job with The Sun."

Smiling, Ferret jumped up and hugged him, "That's great,"

Sable froze, obviously taken by surprise, and Ferret almost pulled away in embarrassment. Sable tentatively hugged her back, and then withdrew his arms and Ferret pulled away, hiding her flushed face. She hadn't even thought, just acted on her impulses, and made a fool of herself, "Sorry Sable, I just-"

"Don't apologize," He said softly before leaving the room, "I was just shocked because you've never hugged me before. Maybe if you hugged me more, I wouldn't react like that."

Ferret blanched, than smiled, "Is that an invitation?"

**October 24, 1992**

The buzzing had persisted over the last month, not continuously, but for a while every day. She didn't tell anyone though, she had grown accustomed to it to the point where it didn't even bother her anymore. All telling someone would do, would get Draco to worry about her.

"Lockhart convinced Dumbledore to have a mandatory Halloween Party." Draco complained.

"Is Lockhart's entire goal this year to make us all hate him? I hope the final is hexing him." Vaughn said smirking, from his classes everyone knew the man was hopeless when it came to defensive spells. Very few people believed he had actually done everything he had in his books.

"We wish. We'll probably just have the same test he gave us at the beginning of the year," He said with a grimace.

"What man knows what shade lilac is, much less choose it as their favorite color?" Vaughn asked remembering the test Lockhart gave them on himself.

**October 31, 1992**

"Vaughn, are you okay?" Draco asked during the party, noticing that she was in pain.

The buzzing had become almost unbearable, having grown exponentially worse as the party went on, which was a rather sad event in itself. It was a feast with Lockhart trying to get everyone to wear the masks he had brought for everyone. The most amusing part being him giving Professor Snape a pink bunny mask, which was promptly burnt. Even that entertainment was short-lived. Vaughn leaned her head on her elbow, "Not really, I think I'm going to go to bed early, if I can escape Lockhart."

"Don't worry, I'll distract him." Draco smirked as he pulled out his wand. Vaughn began creeping out of the room when she heard the whole hall filled with screams that she suspected were laughter. She ran from the room, so she would never know that the mask Lockhart was wearing had burst into flames, causing him to freak out - much to the amusement of students and staff alike. The only harm done was a few scorched hairs, and the headmaster claimed that there was no way to tell who performed the spell.

Meanwhile, Vaughn was in the Entrance Hall on the way to the dungeons when she felt a subconscious pull to the stairs. She hesitated, then followed the pull up to the first floor. In her head, she convinced herself that she was going to the Infirmary, because there was obviously something wrong. But she knew she was just curious where the pull would take her. It turned out that it was the second floor, and she had used the back staircase like always to avoid Myrtle's bathroom. The Infirmary was two floors up, but the pull wanted her to walk down the hall. It took a minute to decide.

She followed the pull, seeing a puddle coming from behind the wall of Myrtle's bathroom, someone had upset the temperamental ghost again. After a second she noticed a red part of the water, and to her knowledge, it was animal blood of some sort, it was too watery to be human. As any semi-sane person would have done, Vaughn stepped carefully around the puddle to investigate. She saw two things, one was the Golden boy and his two friends, the second was a message written on the wall in blood.

_The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware._

The four students looked at each other, or more, the Gryffindors glared suspiciously at Vaughn, who looked at them indifferently. She studied the message again, "Stop thinking that it was me, because I didn't write that. I don't even know what it means."

"Is it written in blood?" Hermione asked, more to herself than to anyone in particular, but Vaughn answered anyways.

"Yes, not human though, some sort of bird I imagine. Probably has something to do with Hagrid's missing chickens." Vaughn commented.

"What's that?" Ron asked, pointing to a darkened lump hanging from a torch bracket.

Harry moved towards it, squinting in the dark light, "It's Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat."

"We should get a teacher, we have to tell someone about this," Hermione started.

"Too late," Vaughn said grimly, and they all heard hundreds of feet thundering up the stairs towards them, "We won't be able to get away in time."

Vaughn was right, in seconds Lockhart's party was over and half the school had reached the landing and was now crowding around the wall and the four they found with it, giving them a wide birth. Filch had fought his way to the front, and saw Mrs. Norris, and promptly began shouting accusations at the students. He was followed by McGonagall and Dumbledore, who sent for Professor Snape. Lockhart joined the center of attention and starting offering his office up for the examination of Mrs. Norris. Snape soon arrived, many Slitherins following behind him.

Draco was the one to break the quiet murmurs of the students, "'Enemies of the heir, beware.' You're next, mudbloods."

McGonagall glared at him, "Everyone, go to your common rooms, curfew is in ten minutes."

The tone of her voice had everyone obeying, except the four who had been caught at the scene. They were taken, along with Filch and his cat, to Lockhart's office, the teachers set to work examining as the students waited, sitting on a couch that Lockhart transfigured for them. Lilac, and not big enough for them all to sit, so Vaughn sat on the arm to give them room.

"They killed her," Filch finally said, looking directly at Potter, "They killed Mrs. Norris."

"Argus," Dumbledore said softly, "She's not dead."

"Not dead?" Filch repeated in disbelief.

"Cursed, but not dead," McGonagall supplied.

Filch turned back to the couch, "They cursed her."

"She has been petrified, which requires a level of dark magic that no second or first year could possibly perform." Snape said sternly, "And while they were most likely in the wrong place at the wrong time, the circumstances are suspicious. Why would they be on the second floor during the Halloween Party?"

McGonagall hesitantly agreed, "Where were you three."

"Nearly Headless Nick's deathday party." Harry answered.

"And you didn't come to the party afterwards to eat? From what I hear, the food at deathday parties is not fit for humans." Snape questioned.

"You haven't seen the food, we lost our appetites." Ron said, with a disgusted look on his face.

"We decided to just go to bed." Harry said. No one really believed their story, but it was logical enough that they realized they would get nowhere if they continued to question the Gryffindors.

"And what's your story Ms. Milthorpe. You left the party early if I remember correctly, sometime while Professor Lockhart was on fire?" McGonagall asked, ignoring the Gryffindors who shared a look saying 'maybe we should have gone to the party after all.

"I wasn't feeling well, so I was going to go to bed early," Vaughn began, "I decided to go to the Infirmary instead because it's been going on a few days. When I got to the second floor, I saw the water and was curious. That's all." She decided to leave out that she had felt a pull that lead her to the scene and the buzzing in her head had disappeared immediately when she saw the message.

Snape seemed annoyed, "I don't see why you would think my student would attack Mrs. Norris in the first place. These three, however," Snape looked at the Gryffindors, "Have never liked Filch or his cat."

"She hates animals," filch said, absentmindedly petting the petrified cat.

"Animals hate me, you'd be surprised as to what all attack me during Care of Magical Creatures." Vaughn shrugged.

"I believe we should stop interrogating the students, since we all agree they do not have the ability to petrify." Dumbledore said, "The mandrakes that Professor Sprout are growing should reach full maturity in Spring, and Severus will be able to make an antidote. As for now, I suggest that we all get some sleep."

The four students were sent off to their respective houses, and for Vaughn it was a very quiet walk in contemplation. It was curious that the buzzing would lead her to that of all things. She shook the thought from her head and focused on the message itself, the reading she had done over the Summer helped a lot in this. Salazar had apparently made a secret cavern under the school called the Chamber of Secrets in which it held a monster only the heir of Slytherin could control. Slytherin was known to hate muggleborns, which explained Draco's comment about mudbloods being next.

**November 2, 1992**

Sable rubbed his eyes as he walked into his flat at nearly one in the morning. A friend of his had a copy of an interview he was supposed to use for an article and had sent it - five hours later than promised. He had been made to stay late to ensure the article would be done on time. And due to his late timing, he was surprised to find the television on and Ferret lounging on the couch when he walked through the door. After a second he realized that she was actually asleep.

Sable smiled and turned off the television before going to his room. He emerged a moment later with a blanket, which he put over Ferret, who shifted slightly to get more comfortable, but didn't wake up. This was when Sable hesitated before giving in and kissing her forehead before going to bed himself.

**November 14, 1992**

"You better hurry up, Draco will kill us if we're late for the match." Blaise said standing behind her as she ate, and she finally grabbed a piece of toast and stood.

"Fine, but if he's going to be like this before every match I might be the one to kill him." Vaughn threatened as they walked down to the pitch together. Draco had quickly forgotten the writing on the wall and began talking incessantly about the upcoming match where he would be Seeker against the Golden Boy.

Taking their seats in the stands among the other Slitherins, Blaise and Vaughn were silent as the two teams walked on to the pitch. The Slitherins in Green and the Gryffindors in red. Vaughn smiled, "Is it just me, or does that look very Christmas-y?"

Blaise looked at the field curiously, "Yeah, it does. Is this the first game you've seen?"

"Yeah, I had a rather boring childhood." Vaughn answered as she tried to keep track of the Quaffle. Blaise just nodded, saying that he hadn't seen a match before coming to Hogwarts either.

The score was seventy to twenty with Gryffindor ahead, and Vaughn had only been able to see one of those goals, which she found extremely annoying. Finally, she gave up and found the two seekers in the air high above the pitch. They were both searching the field until they spotted what she assumed was the snitch, and began to make their way towards the snitch that was in the middle of the chasers. A bludger barely missed Potter, only to came back on it's own to try to hit him again, the third time this happened Vaughn nudged Blaise.

"Is that supposed to be happening?" Vaughn asked, and once Blaise realized what she was pointing at, he shook his head saying that only rogue bludgers did that. Ones that had been tampered with. Soon, the game had come to a standstill as the Weasley twins attempted to fend off the bludger after it soundly hit Potter's arm. The bludger was eventually secured, and Harry was on the round holding his arm at an unnatural angle.

Vaughn watched Lockhart walk onto the field towards Potter, and Vaughn said, "One galleon says Lockhart somehow makes the situation worse."

Blaise shook his head, "I won't take a bet I know I'll lose."

Sure enough, in mere seconds, Lockhart had reduced Potter's arm to a rubbery mess, and Potter was telling him off as the twins helped him to his feet and the entire Gryffindor team escorted him to the Infirmary. With the game over, the audience filtered out of the stands, and the Slitherin team stood alone on the field with Draco holding the Snitch that he had caught. No one had even noticed until Vaughn walked up to Madam Hooch and pointed this out.

"Slitherin wins one hundred and seventy to seventy." She agreed, and though it was announced, no one really cared that Slitherin had won. Gryffindor's Golden Boy had taken away any attention the Slitherin team would have gotten for their victory. And people wonder why the Slitherins are so bitter.

**November 20, 1992**

Talk had died down that Friday with Draco and Professor Snape and Vaughn, as usual, had very little to say. It was an awkward silence, that Snape hated and promptly broke, "I assume the two of you have heard about Professor Lockhart's dueling club."

The two answered by wrinkling their noses in disgust.

"It's bad enough having Defense with him." Vaughn complained, "As much as I'm interested in dueling, I can't stand him." Draco nodded in agreement.

Snape looked curious, "Not even if I told you I would be his… assistant." He grimaced at the last word.

The two students looked at each other questioningly, silently discussing. Draco offered more information, "Well, Snape was well-known for dueling back when he was in school. My father says he was one of the best."

Severus understood that his godson was all for going as long as he was there… and Vaughn would come with him. So right now he was convincing Vaughn to join him. The girl finally sighed, "When is the dueling club again?"

"Tuesday, December eighth." Severus answered, knowing that she had been convinced to go.

"We'll be there."

-

(A/N: Chapter four is done! Next chapter will be almost just the dueling club and it's… aftermath. Just as a little trivia fact, the date of the dueling club (December 8th, 1992) was the day I was born. And… let's just say it's not Vaughn's best day ever. So far, I think I have a total of two reviews on this, and I find it a little disheartening. Hence, why I am going to be writing two longer fics at once. There will be this fic (IINSY) and I will start writing another fic that I should have the prologue posted by tonight. It will be called 'Teddy Lupin: Metamorphmagus Extrordinaire'. R & R. )


	5. Two Possible Heirs

IINSY Chapter 4

(A/N: I would like to formally apologize for my incorrect spelling of Slytherin, I tried to fix all the ones in this chapter but I may have missed a couple. I would like to thank my dear friend Emmathespottedbat for pointing out my error.)

**December 8, 1992**

The dueling club was to be held in one of the rooms in the dungeons, and while there was a fairly good turnout, about fifty students, there were only a few that were fifth year and above. Not surprising since Lockhart had proven himself to be a horrible duelist during their classes, and had chosen not to show up at all. Almost every Slytherin in the first three years had shown up once they heard that Snape was helping teach, whether because it was showing loyalty to their house, or because they hoped that Snape would make a total fool of Lockhart, no one really knew.

Lockhart explained some brief rules, and listed off some spells that were basic in duels, stupify, impedimenta, expelliarmus and so on. Snape was allowed a moment to say they would be split into groups to duel with each other and he and Lockhart would circle around to advise the students. Also, that the Professors would be pairing them up, though their choices made Vaughn wonder whether Dumbledore checked to see if teachers were sane before hiring them.

First of all, they put Harry and Draco together. They tried to kill each other on a regular basis in the first place. Now, let's give them their wands and tell them to hex each other. Nice planning, idiots.

Next, Hermione was put with Millicent Bulstrode. Millicent is the girl that Vaughn kindly refers to as 'Millie the Muggle-hater'. It was doubtful that they would make it a full minute without the word mudblood being said and a fight starting.

Ron was paired with Crabbe, the smarter of the Crabbe-and-Goyle pair. He took the term 'goon' poorly when it was used as an insult, much like the Weasel had done twice since the start of the dueling club period.

Vaughn was paired with Ginny, which at first sight, seems like the best of the four. In truth, it was probably the worst. You see, Vaughn's thought that Luna's tone was insulting to Seers, which had led her to saying some pretty cruel stuff about Luna. Ginny, being Luna's best (if only) friend, had taken full responsibility of making Vaughn regret that decision.

"You may now begin dueling." Lockhart said with great enthusiasm, ready to watch his cleverly planned dueling club take flight and be an instant success.

One minute, forty-three seconds later, Harry and Draco had to be stopped from 'dueling over-zealously', Millicent was sporting the remains of hexes that shouldn't be mixed, Ron had a black eye, and Vaughn and Ginny had to be forcefully separated from what had become a fist fight. Lockhart looked a little frazzled, and Snape suggested they pick a pair to demonstrate a proper duel. Why they would pick Harry and Draco, no one knows. As Lockhart coached Harry, and Snape Draco, something very strange occurred.

All movement and noise stopped, which was odd in itself, but then the world took on a sepia tone of color, and she realized that she remained her normal colors. Movement slowly resumed, Harry and Draco taking dueling stances on the platform, Lockhart on one side with a too big smile, and Snape and Draco with matching smirks. The crowd of students moved it to get a better look. Vaughn was miffed that there was no accompanying noise. Lockhart's mouth opened, telling them to begin dueling by the look of it.

Draco waved his wand, but Vaughn had never concerned herself with reading lips, so she didn't catch the incantation. A big black snake emerged from his wand, slithering towards Harry in a seemingly menacing way. Harry opened his mouth, his mouth moving oddly, and the snake perked up as if receiving an order. It then turned towards the students and made a lunge at Eddie Macmillan, a Hufflepuff, that while popular, was always doing something foolish.

At this point, things got even odder, the entire world went back in time. It was vaguely like watching a muggle VCR in rewind, with every movement being done in reverse as things reverted back to the beginning of the sepia-toned interlude. As soon as everything had returned to where it started, the sepia tone faded back to everyone's regular coloring and the boys were already taking their stances. The thought dawned on her that she had gotten a glimpse of the future, a Seer ability that she had read about, often given when a Seer has a chance to impact the future with their actions.

Vaughn acted on instinct from that point on, pushing her way to the front as the snake was summoned. She watched Harry as he spoke, but he… hissed? Whatever, at the moment it didn't matter what sound he made, and she hurried towards Eddie. As it lunged at the boy, now in full panic mode, she pushed him out of the way and felt something latch onto the arm she had drawn over her face. She saw Eddie's face, pale and wide-eyed staring at her in gratitude, and she rolled her eyes and looked to her arm.

The black snake was coiled on the platform, but it's head was firmly attached to her arm. Upon further inspection, she found it's fangs buried in her arm, and bit her lip as the pain finally registered. Strangely, as she looked around, all eyes were on Potter. _Great, _Vaughn thought, _I may have lethal venom in my veins, and all anyone cares about is the damned Golden boy of Gryffindor._

"Alright, I think we'll call it quits here. Please return to your common rooms," Lockhart said shakily, and the student filed out of the room whispering. The whole school would know what had happened by curfew, and Vaughn's head was still spinning, although it was entirely possible that it could have been the venom.

Professor Snape vanished the snake, "Come with me, Ms. Milthorpe."

"Did I do something wrong, Professor?" She asked once they got out of the room and she realized he was leading her to his office.

"Wrong no, but it was definitely foolish. A bite from that species of snake will make you pass out for a few hours if you don't receive an antidote." He said opening his office door and pointing to a chair, "Wait here, I'll be back momentarily."

Vaughn decided to use her time to try to figure out what exactly had happened during the dueling club while also trying to fight off the incredible urge to fall asleep. Snape came back a few minutes later, and handed her a small vial of a yellow potion that she drank, and her drowsiness instantly subsided.

"It was foolish for you to put yourself in danger like that, why did you do it?" Snape asked sitting behind his desk.

"It felt like the right thing to do, besides, would you want to deal with Eddie if he got attacked instead of me?" Vaughn shrugged.

"While that may be true, I watched what you were doing, and it was not by luck that you were able to stop the attack," Snape stated, "how did you know what was going to happen?"

For a moment, Vaughn considered making something up, but that thought floated away as quickly as it had come, "I… saw it."

Snape looked confused, "How did you see it?"

"Well, I'm a Seer, and I think I had a vision. The world stopped, the lighting changed, I saw what happened, and then it went back to where I was, and I saved Eddie because I had seen him get attacked." She explained looking at the floor, not wanting to see the same criticism that McGonagall always had in her eyes when Vaughn talked about being a Seer.

"Have you ever had a vision before?" Was all that Snape asked, his tone the same as always.

Vaughn looked up at him, "No, I haven't."

Snape nodded, "I suppose you want to know why no one seemed concerned about the snake."

"Yeah, what was so special about the Golden Boy?" Vaughn asked, used to using either that name or Potter when talking to Snape.

"You heard him hissing, correct?" Vaughn nodded, even though she hadn't thought much of it at the time, "The ability to talk to snakes is an odd ability, even for wizards. It's called parseltongue, and has only been found in those descended from Salazar Slytherin."

It clicked in Vaughn's head, "So, wouldn't that make him the heir of Slytherin, and him the one that opened the Chamber of Secrets?"

Snape frowned, "It's hard to prove that, the Potter family has been around for hundreds of years and has no connections with the Slytherin blood line, and Harry's mother was a muggleborn. Of course, Slytherin's line was lost a couple hundred years ago when the heir decided to live among muggles and never revealed any of their children before their death. No one really knows who the heir is."

"Oh," Vaughn said, and then after a moment added, "I have homework to do,"

Snape told her that she could go, confused as to why her face fell. It would be obvious enough why the next day.

**December 9, 1992**

As expected, the entire school had heard about the dueling club incident and rumors were spreading quickly through the school. Well, it was really just two theories.

The first was that Harry Potter was the heir of Slytherin because he could speak parse tongue, despite the fact that most thought the heir should be in Slytherin. This was, of course, the same theory that Vaughn had came up with, and when Draco jumped on the bandwagon, she gave him the same story that Snape had given to her. Draco was quick to agree, and remembering something vague, wrote home to his father asking about it.

The second theory sadly had more logic to it. Vaughn was the heir of Slytherin. Now, the logic was that Vaughn had seemed to know the snake was attacking, so she must be a parse tongue, too. Also, she was a Slytherin, and because of her history, could easily be a descendent of Salazar Slytherin. Snape had advised Vaughn to keep her Seeing ability a secret and there was no way in hell that she was arguing that she was a muggleborn. Why make herself a target.

Of course, there were few people that didn't believe the second theory, Draco, Blaise and surprisingly, the Golden Trio. Vaughn didn't know that Harry was actually trying to stop the snake, which blew theory two out of the water. Instead, they alone believed in a third theory, that Draco was the heir, supported by him yelling when the writing on the wall was first discovered.

Another attack had happened too, on Colin Creevey, the camera happy first year always following Harry around. It had been pointed out that he had become somewhat a friend of Ginny Weasley, making it possible that Vaughn was the aggressor.

**December 21, 1992**

"You're hopeless, absolutely hopeless," Justin told her with a disgusted look on his face.

"You think I don't know that?" Vaughn almost yelled, Justin had been assigned to tutoring her in Care of Magical Creatures, and she was once again being bested by a creature that was supposed to be harmless.

"That's it, I quit. I didn't want to tutor you anyway." He put the small bird in the cage and stalked off mumbling about both the heirs hating him. Not surprising since he kept on badmouthing the Golden Boy to his face.

The impact didn't really hit until that afternoon when the third attack had occurred, Justin and Nearly Headless Nick were both petrified, and everyone was worried because not even the ghosts were safe anymore, which put a damper on the end of term. The school was now avoiding Harry and Vaughn, and parents were blaming them too, some even pulling their kids out of school until the attacks stop. There were very few students staying over Christmas Break, worried for the safety of the school, but Draco, Vaughn and the goons were, as well as the Golden Trio.

However, what worried Vaughn the most was the headache she got before each attack, and she was starting to fear she the heir without even knowing it, and it scared her to death. Everyone was right, she wasn't sure whether she could be a descendent of Slytherin or not. She could be attacking people without even wanting to, her mind was just doing it on it's own. She tried to shake the thought, but it just wouldn't go away.

**December 24, 1992**

"Vaughn, my father wrote back, and I think you, Crabbe and Goyle should hear this. Have you seen the two of them?" Draco asked as he walked out of the boys' dorm, a luxury that was rare, but possible with only eight Slytherins at the school at the moment.

"They were still at breakfast when I left, and might still be." Vaughn replied reading a book on the history of vampire's, which Draco thought was dull, but never moved to stop her.

"I'll go get them, be back in a few minutes."

"I'll be right here," Vaughn replied hearing the portrait close behind Draco, he came back ten minutes later when she got to the part about the war between East Europe Vampires fighting the Russian Vampires.

Draco saw Vaughn lying exactly where he had left her on a love seat, and promptly picked up her feet, sat down, and allowed her to lay them on his lap, which was a purely friendly gesture among the Slytherins. Crabbe and Goyle sat across from them, and though Draco didn't seem to notice, they were sitting a little stiffer that usual, and farther apart than usual. Vaughn thought this very odd for them, but didn't say anything so she could hear what Draco had to say.

"Remember that I said there was something familiar about the attacks?" Vaughn and the goons nodded, "Well, my father just got back to me. Apparently this isn't the first time the Chamber has been opened."

"Was it when he was at school?" Goyle asked, Vaughn thought it was odd, Crabbe usually would have been the one to ask that kind of question, Goyle was more the kind for quiet, sarcastic remarks.

"My father was a first year, had no idea what was going on until the end of the year when the supposed heir was caught."

"Who?" Vaughn asked.

"Hagrid." Draco announced, "He was caught with the monster, and expelled. The attacks stopped after that."

"You… you think he's opened the Chamber again?" Crabbe asked, and Vaughn gave him a sharp look, Crabbe never stuttered. Ever.

"Yeah, probably." Draco admitted.

"He might be helping Potter, you know, doing his bidding." Vaughn commented, seeing Goyle hold back a flinch.

"It's possible," Draco looked at his watch, "Vaughn, don't you have Care of Magical Creatures tutoring?"

"Oh yeah," Vaughn frowned, "but the snow's really high today. Gregg, Vince, will you walk me down there like yesterday. If I get stuck in a snowdrift again, I'd like to have your help getting out."

"Sounds like a plan, see you three later." Draco said as he found a potions book in the common room and started reading. Vaughn helped the boys by handing them their respective winter robes and they went through the portrait, and began walking through the dungeons.

And then she put Crabbe in a full body bind and pinned her wand to Goyle's throat, holding him against the wall. To say the least, they were surprised. Vaughn smirked, "Potter, Weasley, what the hell were you doing in our common room?"

Potter/Goyle blanched, "How did you know?"

"I'm not a bloody idiot," Vaughn replied, "It may not have been so easy if you had been Crabbe, but even then, Crabbe and Goyle usually sit with their knees touching. Next time I would suggest that you actually study the behavior of the people you're going to impersonate. Now, either tell me what you were doing, or I turn you into Snape who's been trying to figure out who stole some odd potions ingredients that I bet you used to turn into them."

"We were trying to find out who the heir of Slytherin is." Harry admitted.

"Well, it's not me, and it's not Draco. And I for one, know that it's not you, and seriously doubt it was ever Hagrid attacking the mudbloods he loves so dearly. My comment was simply an experiment to see if it was really you." She bit her lip, "Now, if we can agree on that, I'll let you be free. I hear you say a word against me or Draco on the subject, and I will let Snape know about the ingredients."

She released the boy and they were off in a shot, the potion was beginning to wear off. Vaughn shook her head, "Foolish Gryffindors,"

-

(A/N: thanks to you that have been reviewing, I find it very encouraging, even if it's only one review per chapter. There will be a bit of time skipping in the next chapter. Please review!)


	6. Detention Was SO Worth It

IINSY Chapter 6

Hermione Granger hadn't been seen since the beginning of Christmas break, and it was now February, but she was only returning to classes now. No one really knew why she was in the hospital wing in the first place, but the timing matched up with the boys sneaking into Slytherin. The intention was probably for her to pose as another Slytherin, and something went wrong.

**February 14, 1993**

"Oh, bloody hell," Vaughn said, causing Draco to look up from his conversation with Blaise, and their group of five (the goons were with them) gaped at the sight of the Great Hall.

"It looks like Madam Puddifoot's tea shop puked in here," Blaise said, which was true enough, the entire Great Hall was varying shades of pink, there were little cupids running around sending Valentine messages, and in the center of it all was Lockhart with a stupid grin on his face in pink robes with purple hearts. Vaughn nearly puked.

They watched laughing as Potter had a Valentine delivered by a cupid from Ginny, and Draco was about to say something, but another cupid walked up to Vaughn saying it had a poem for her. Vaughn was caught off guard, and a quick look at her for friends confirmed that it wasn't from them, which confused Vaughn because she had never gotten any sort of Valentine. The cupid took out the small scrap of paper and recited with a regretful look on his face:

_To Vaughn the Princess of Slytherin,_

_The darkest house a witch could be in, _

_Arrogant, rude, and all around mean,_

_Worst behaved pureblood we've ever seen,_

_She hates animals of every kind,_

_The worst friend you'd ever find,_

_Cruel to the nice, friends with the crude,_

_Makes even an angel brood,_

_To ask you out, no one would dare,_

_The girl who is the heir._

Vaughn barely registered the cupid saying the sender wished to remain anonymous, but Vaughn could see the Weasley twins smirking with a smiling Ginny by their side, having gotten over the embarrassment of her Valentine to Harry. Most of the Great Hall was silent, having heard most of the insulting Valentine and realized she was once again being named the heir of Slytherin. Ginny said something to her brothers and then walked out of the hall.

Vaughn turned to the boys, "I think I'm going to skip breakfast, and go straight to Charms."

"Don't you have Charms with the Gryfindors?" Crabbe asked, smirking.

"Yes, yes I do." Vaughn smirked back, they all knew what she had in mind. Revenge.

"Just don't get caught." Draco warned.

"Don't worry, I intend to make it well worth detention." Vaughn said before leaving the Great Hall, ignoring the eyes following her.

She felt the buzzing in her head again, but ignored it, hoping only that Ginny was attacked this time, no matter how guilty it would make her look. She shook the thought away, she'd rather do this herself. Vaughn frowned when she caught up with Ginny on the third floor, she should have been further ahead than that, but the thought was gone as soon as it had come.

"Like your Valentine, Milthorpe?" Ginny asked once she saw Vaughn.

"Yeah, and I thought they said that Gryffindors were courageous, you couldn't even insult me to my face." Vaughn shot back, an amused look on her face… for the moment.

"I didn't send the Valentine." Ginny smiled.

"Oh, I know you didn't. You didn't write it either. You had the twins do it because you were too busy pining over the Golden Boy and writing him a song. Looked like he loved it, didn't he?" Vaughn teased, making Ginny turn a bright red, "Now, was it your idea to say I'm the heir? Or the twins' idea to add that in?"

Ginny's face hardened, "You _are_ the heir, I wanted to make sure everyone knew it was you, not Harry."

"I'm not the heir, and I would suggest you stop saying that I am." Vaughn said darkly.

"Or what? I'm not afraid of you, I'm a better duelist." Ginny smirked, "And I will make sure the school knows you're the heir."

"It's funny how I threaten you and you assume it will be magically." Vaughn said, and Ginny's eyes widened as Vaughn punched her. Ginny quickly caught on and began fighting back until Professor Sinistra caught them and sent them both to the Infirmary before informing their heads of house. The girls were made to stay until lunch, and each had a few scratches that Madam Pomfrey purposely left so they would have to explain themselves.

McGonagall was the first to arrive, and chastised Ginny for conspiring behind the Valentine and taking part in a fight, she was given two detentions with Lockhart because McGonagall had enough to do without supervising detention. Ginny was released afterwards.

Snape arrived as Ginny was leaving and sat on the bed next to Vaughn, "While I have to say I'm happy to see one of the Weasley's finally put in their place, I'm surprised that you would resort to physical violence."

"Sir, she's trying to sully my name, I tried to politely ask if she would stop. She refused." Vaughn explained, not really caring how many detentions she got. Ginny had a black eye that Pomfrey wouldn't heal. The punishment was worth it.

"Yes, I heard the so called Valentine she got her brothers to send you, and while I'm glad you stood up for yourself, that was not the proper way to do it." Snape admonished.

"Is there a way to stand up to someone who humiliated you without getting in trouble?" Vaughn asked, and saw his eye flash, "I'm used to being on the receiving end of this kind of thing my whole life, I've stood up for myself three times including today. Each time I've been severely punished, I expect this time will be no different."

"I suppose you have a point, but that doesn't mean you get out of detention." Snape said softer than usual, "You will be re-labeling the potions in my private stores this weekend, arrive Saturday at ten in the morning."

**April 1993**

The entire Weasley clan was upset with Vaughn, even Percy agreed with his younger siblings. Vaughn had created a system that would alert her when one of them or their close friends were around, and narrowly missed many of the pranks the twins pulled on her because of it. The Golden trio were just about the only Gryffindors that didn't think Vaughn was the heir, and they made no effort to stop Ginny from spreading the rumor.

Draco was no focused on the upcoming match on May eighth, hoping to see Gryffindor beat by Hufflepuff, no matter how unlikely the case was.

**May 8, 1993**

"Draco, I think there's going to be another attack." Vaughn said, her head buzzing.

"What?" He said, snapping out of his Quidditch-happy mood, "You mean you're head is…"

"Yeah, though it may just be coincidental." Vaughn admitted, "You go on, I'm going to get Snape and see if it is the attacks causing the headaches."

Draco nodded hesitantly, but headed down to the pitch anyway. Vaughn on the other hand found her way to the emptying head table where she was lucky to find Snape, and walked up to the table getting the attention of the few students still in the Great Hall. She quickly explained that she thought her Seeing powers were alerting her to the attacks and would like to investigate now that she had another headache, but felt it unwise to investigate on her own.

Snape stood up, "Well, it's possible. Lead the way."

Vaughn relaxed and let the buzzing take over like she did on Halloween and felt a small tug and followed it to the third floor. Only, on the landing before reaching the third floor, the buzzing grew exponentially louder, to the point that she nearly lost her balance. If not for Snape she would have fallen. After a moment, she grew used to the buzzing and broke into a run as the pull became more urgent, stopping dead at the end of a corridor by the library. Snape caught up, and then caught her gaze.

"I was too late," Vaughn said softly, two girls laid on the ground petrified. The buzzing was gone.

"I doubt we could have done anything if we were here in time. Now go to your dorm, and don't say a word to anyone who asks. Come directly to me if the headache returns." Snape ordered, and Vaughn didn't move until he gave her a slight push, immobilized by the sight of the girls.

Sitting in the love seat in the middle of the common room, Vaughn felt numb as the rest of her house filed in around her. She ignored the calls of joy that two mudbloods had been taken out. She ignored the occasional comment that the two had been friends of her enemies that had been separated from the rest of the school. She was concerned purely with the fact that she had warning, and couldn't get there in time to even see the monster, and that maybe, just maybe, she was the heir this whole time. If someone says something enough times, it becomes the truth.

She felt someone sit next to her and put their arms around her, Draco. Vaughn leaned against his shoulder, using all of her control to not curl up against him and cry for the first time in ages. He spoke quietly, "Your theory was right, wasn't it?"

"I was so close, a few seconds and I would have-"

"Put yourself in the line of danger," Draco finished harshly, but Vaughn no longer had the will to argue.

"Granger and Clearwater, they were just lying there, I felt helpless,"

"I'm glad you didn't get there sooner," Draco said softly, "You're my best friend, I don't think I could stand you being another petrified victim in the Infirmary just because you got in the heir's way."

Vaughn lifted her head to look Draco in the eye, confused as to why he had said that. Strangely, he wasn't joking, he truly meant what he'd said. Vaughn didn't want to break the comfortable silence, so leaned against Draco's shoulder and closed her eyes. She realized she had to say something because it was biting at her mind and reluctantly said, "I think I'm the heir."

"What?" Draco asked, moving away from her so they were facing one another, "You can't be."

"Maybe not on purpose, but it could be possible to control the monster subconsciously," Vaughn argued, an almost pained look on her face, "There's a family of wizards that live in China that are said to be able to control cats that I read about, and they don't even really have to mean to control them. They have an argument with someone, and the cats attack them. So it's possible I could be doing the same thing with the Slytherin monster."

"Vaughn, you read too much," Draco said, "There is no way Salazar would have a monster he could control on accident. It's impractical. You aren't the heir."

"Hey guys," Blaise said, noticing there was a lag in conversation, "I was hoping Vaughn could use a distraction from whatever's bothering her, and I'm willing to play chess against her even though she'll probably beat me."

"I'd be up for that," Vaughn said, and Blaise brought over a board and they played throughout the day, joking easily with the other Slytherins who had gathered to watch Vaughn play, saying she had an odd strategy for winning that shouldn't have worked. But she ended up beating Blaise, a third year, two fifth years and had just won against a seventh year when Snape entered the common room. The whole room turned to look at him.

"As you have heard, there has been another attack. Ms. Granger and Ms. Clearwater have been petrified." Snape took a deep breath and the room exchanged nervous looks as if expecting him to say that the school was being closed, "The governors have ruled that the school is incapable of fixing the problem. Dumbledore has been sacked and removed from the premises, Professor McGonagall will be acting as Headmistress for the rest of the year. Also, Hagrid, our gamekeeper, has been arrested under suspicion of opening the Chamber of Secrets."

The Slytherins exchanged skeptical looks, all doubting that Hagrid would attack the students.

Snape waited for them to return their attention to him before continuing, "As a further precaution, no one will be allowed to wander the halls on their own. Students will be escorted to their next classes by professors. It's our hope that with larger groups, the monster won't attack. Also, all extra-curricular activities will be cancelled for the duration of the year, including quidditch. Also, over the next couple of weeks, your parents have been given the option to withdraw you from school. For now, get used to all of you being in the common room, because other than meals and classes, you will be required to stay here."

Snape left the common room without another word, and the students were speechless. As a group they looked around the common room, which was suddenly a lot smaller than they had previously thought. Slytherin was built to be a lounging area, and wasn't comfortable for extended periods of time with the current eighty-seven Slytherins. The other common rooms were better prepared, since even Hufflepuf had windows. Slytherin was under a lake. The seventh years got together and began discussing a way to make the space seem bigger, and after about fifteen minutes, they proposed their solution to the group.

Mayelle, the current head girl acted as spokesperson, "Alright, Slytherin house may have the smallest common room of the four houses, but we have larger dorm rooms. Since we're all on the same floor, and separated by enchanted curtains, we think we should just have the curtains out of the way during the day. This will give us all more room, and since the gender enchantments are on the curtains, everyone will be able to roam around the room freely. Does anyone have any questions or objections?"

A girl in third year raised her hand, "Will this be all the time, or just during the day?"

Mayelle shook her head, "Just during the day."

No one else raised their hand and Marcus stood next to Mayelle, "It's decided then, you have five minutes to tidy up your dorm, and then will start pinning back the curtains."

The students scattered and tidied up their dorms, and then the younger students started holding back the curtains as the older ones pinned them up with spells. It was a short process, but they all felt a lot better about spending what would probably the rest of the year in there. However, they were still a little tentative about the gender wards, and experimented carefully before the spread about their now larger common room. The only parts of the room still blocked off were the bathrooms. Vaughn ended up with her four friends in their dorm doing homework so they wouldn't have to worry about it later.

It was about four hours later when Snape returned to the common room, and looked quite surprised to see what they had done to the room. He made no comment, but nodded in agreement that it was probably better to have the room this way. Students all turned to face him to hear what the latest news was, "Well, I see you all have gotten settled in. I came to escort you all to dinner, since the new rules require a teacher escort. After dinner, the rules will be given to you again. Come on,"

The Slytherins rose from their current perches and filed out of the portrait hole, and Snape followed them out, giving Vaughn a sympathetic look as she passed him.

-

(A/N: Well, I know it's a little short, but I want the next part to be in the next chapter. As always, please review.)


	7. Origami and the Real Heir

IINSY Chapter 7

**May 29, 1993 - morning**

It had been three weeks since the last attack, today, the mandrakes were being cut and the potion to heal those that had been petrified was being started by Snape. It would stew overnight, and be administered in the morning, and we would know what was behind the attacks. Whispers were still going around that Vaughn was the heir, and the only reason the attacks stopped was because she was never alone. Vaughn had taken it as well as she could, brushing it off. In truth, the Slytherins had been the most tolerant of the escorting around the school, being the only house no one had snuck out of yet. When homework required books from the library, students were glad to make a list of the books, and send a few students with Professor Snape to get them, and there were two hours after classes when the room was nearly silent due to homework.

However, today was Saturday. No one had homework, the latest book run had not lasted long among the students, and students were now occupying themselves with whatever they could get their hands on. For Vaughn and Draco this meant learning the ancient Chinese art of origami, much to the amusement of Crabbe, Goyle, Blaise, and Pansy, who had joined their group in the last week. Vaughn and Draco, after a few hours had small armies of origami animals, which were soon enough engaged in battle with small movements from Draco and Vaughns' wands. Seven of Vaughn's paper crabs were overtaking Draco's crane as the buzzing returned, making her army fall limp as she cradled her head in her hand for a moment before the pain subsided to nothing.

"Are you okay?" Draco asked.

Vaughn smiled and lifted her four remaining birds in the air, and her other origami creatures circled his, "I'm fine, but you're going lose."

Draco didn't seem to believe her, but they were soon entirely focused on the battle. Draco ended up winning, his crane throwing her rabbit into the fireplace, but the entire common room was well entertained.

It was then time for lunch, and with a little help, the scraps of paper were disposed of, and the Slytherins filed out of the room and made their way to the Great Hall, and the buzzing returned. Draco didn't miss her wince this time, "Seriously, are you alright."

"I'm fine," Vaughn insisted, confused that the buzzing was different this time, pulsing rather than a steady buzz.

Draco gave her a look, "I know you better than that."

She wanted to argue, but saw that stubborn look in his eye that meant he wasn't going to let it go, and conceded, "The buzzing's back."

"You think there's going to be another attack?" Draco asked quietly.

Vaughn thought for a moment before whispering back, "No… it's different this time."

"Are you going to tell Snape?" Draco said, seeing the look on her face.

"No," She said pushing her food around on her plate, suddenly not hungry anymore, "I', going to investigate it on my own."

"Are you insane? You know we aren't allowed out of the common room on our own." Draco whispered.

"I know that, but I don't think I'm going to find the monster, just the heir. I'll be fine." She closed her eyes and waited for the pull, but it didn't come. She opened her eyes and was in the Slytherin common room, and it was that sepia color.

She watched as Snape came through the door to find Draco alone in the common room, all the others had gone to bed. A version of herself walked through the door, and Draco jumped up and hugged her, "You bloody idiot, you could have died, are you okay?"

"A few scrapes, and I'm a little shaken, but nothing else." She said hugging him back.

Vaughn closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, she was back in the Great Hall, and Draco, the goons, Blaise and Pansy were staring at her. She looked at them curiously, "What?"

"You looked like you were choking on something," Blaise supplied.

"Oh, I guess that's what happens when I have a vision." Vaughn shrugged, then explained, "I'm a Seer."

They seemed a little concerned that she hadn't told them before, but the next thing asked were, "What was the vision of?"

Vaughn looked Draco in the eye, "I saw that everything is going to work out. So don't worry that pretty little blonde head of yours."

**Evening**

The buzzing had grown urgent and Vaughn was starting to feel a faint pull right before dinner and made her plan to escape. She went to the girl's bathroom in the dorms and hid as the rest of the house left, telling the boys she had to talk with one of the older girls. As soon as they were gone, she pulled out her wand and made her way out of the common room on her own, hiding in the halls that led off the path to the Great Hall, and watched from the shadows as all four houses entered the Great Hall, and Filch closed the door with a resounding _thud._

Vaughn took a deep breath and let the pull lead her up the stairs, in a similar fashion to last time, though now she felt ready to face whatever she was found. Strangely, it seemed to be Moaning Myrtle's bathroom once again. On the landing below the bathroom she broke into a run, stopping abruptly when she saw a person writing on the wall in fresh blood under the first message. _Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever._ That was the added bit on the wall. What was more shocking was the person, Ginny Weasley, who hadn't noticed she was standing not ten feet from her.

Vaughn lost it, "You're the heir, no wonder you were so desperate to have everyone believe I was the heir. It was just some sick plan of yours to remove blame from you, wasn't it."

Ginny turned around looking amused, and Vaughn paled.

"You aren't Ginny," Vaughn whispered. Her eyes were currently a bright blue, which was NOT the color they had always been. Her eyes were brown, she knew because Draco said that she didn't look half bad, but would look better if she had blue eyes like Ron and the two eldest Weasley brothers. Why Draco knew the eye colors of the Weasleys was beyond her, but it didn't seem important at the moment.

"Very observant, you must be that troublesome girl that Ginny's always talking about. Vaughn Milthorpe, I believe." The voice wasn't Ginny's. It wasn't female, and it definitely wasn't an eleven year-olds voice.

"Yeah, I'm Vaughn. Who the hell are you?" Vaughn said suddenly realizing the man in Ginny's body had Ginny's wand trained at her throat, and she had dropped her own in shock.

"Come on, girl, swearing will get you no where." The voice spoke calmly, walking over and picking up her wand, "You'll find out who I am soon enough, though I do have to change this."

A wave of a wand changed the newest line on the wall: _Their skeletons will lie in the Chamber forever._

"You're going to kill both of us?" Vaughn asked as magic was used to clean off Ginny's hands.

"Unfortunately, yes. I can't have you messing with my plans, and besides, you may be able to hide it from everyone else," The voice was far too amused at this point, "I know you're a mudblood."

Vaughn flinched at the word, "I won't go with you."

"Doesn't the little Slytherin want to see the famous Chamber of Secrets and meet it's monster?" The voice teased, "Besides, you either go in of your own accord and I give you a short death in a few hours, or I knock you out, drag you down there myself, and torture you to death in a few hours. Your choice, mudblood."

Vaughn seriously thought about resisting, but didn't like the sound of being around this man in a girl's body when she was unconscious, "I'll go willingly."

Ginny smiled, picked up a book off the ground, a grubby old diary by the look of it, and pointed to the bathroom door with her wand, "Get in there."

Vaughn followed the directions, Ginny's wand inches from the back of her neck and waited once she was in. A simple locking charm was put on the door, and Ginny walked over to one of the sinks and hissed. The sinks sunk into the floor revealing a hole in the floor that was a pipe that went down ten feet and turned sharply. Ginny smiled, "Clever place really, who in their right mind would think the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was in here. I only knew where it was because I was told where it was. Ladies first."

Vaughn gave him/her a funny look, confirming it was a man in Ginny's body, and jumped into the pipe. The ride was dirty, and the pipe had a stale smell to it, but it was longer than she thought it would be and fell ungracefully at the end of the tube in a pile of something that she didn't even _want _to know what it was. She stood and Ginny's body soon took her place on the pile, and her captor allowed her to wipe the dust of her clothes as he did the same to Ginny. If she had her wand she would have called him a pervert, but she was uncomfortable saying that when he could easily decide to torture her.

The walked through the giant underground halls, every once and a while, they would come to a dead end, Ginny would hiss, and the wall would open to a new chamber, and close after they walked through. Vaughn started second guessing her earlier vision, how the hell was she going to get out of this? Finally, the corridor opened up into a huge room, the far wall with a gigantic statue of Salazar Slytherin's head, and columns in two rows along the length of the room. Vaughn hadn't even realized she had stopped moving, until she felt someone grab her arm.

"Come on, we're almost there." Her captor said as he dragged her through the room, stopping in front of the statue of Salazar and pushed Vaughn to the ground, a move she hadn't been expecting, and scraped her palms on the stone floor. Ginny set the book on the floor, and Vaughn tried to get control in the situation, she peeled her wand from Ginny's hand and tried to use a stunner. It was blocked by a spell she hadn't learned. She was disarmed, which knocked her off her feet, and she cursed that the school uniform was a skirt, her knees were scrapped up. She stood again, not willing to go down without a fight, and dodged another spell.

The book's pages were suddenly flipping, and Ginny's eyes returned to normal, before she collapsed. However, a figure emerged from the book, a tall dark haired boy, perhaps fifteen or sixteen, with bright blue eyes. He picked up Ginny's wand, and smiled, "You have a lot of fight in you, don't you? I thought it would be more satisfying to defeat you in my own form."

"I can see through you," Vaughn said, "What are you?"

He smiled, "You can call me Tom, Tom Marvolo Riddle. As for what I am, I'm a memory of the sixteen year old version of the world's darkest wizard, Lord Voldemort."

Vaughn realized where it came from, "Tom Marvolo Riddle, the letters were changed around to I am Lord Voldemort."

"Ah, you don't seem so confident now. Go ahead, pick up your wand, this should be entertaining as I wait for my body to fully materialize." Tom said, smirking.

Vaughn picked up her wand, and he blocked three of her spells before hitting her with a strange spell, she didn't know what it was, but he said 'crucio' and her entire body was on fire. She refused to scream though, and after nearly a full minute she was released from the spell. She took a few staggering breaths, stood up and squared her shoulders, she wouldn't give up, no matter how much that last spell had hurt. Tom had her wand again.

He walked over, grabbed her and pushed her onto the ground next Ginny, pointing Ginny's wand at her feet and spelling them to the ground. He looked at her and smiled, "I have some business to attend to with the Slytherin monster, and can't have you running off. Ginny might come around, but don't worry, she'll be too weak to help you, I am absorbing her life."

He walked off into one of the dark corners of the room, and disappeared into the darkness, and Vaughn began to panic. She was going to die down here, and no one could save her.

**Teacher's Lounge**

The four heads of house had just returned to the Lounge. Sprout reported that her whole house was in the common room, as did Flitwick. McGonagall sighed, "Ginevra Weasley is missing."

All of the teachers were shocked, and Sprout said, "The wall said 'their', doesn't that mean that there's more than one person down in the Chamber?"

"Vaughn Milthorpe is missing as well." Snape said and the room went silent, confused as to how two girls that hated each other would both go missing.

McGonagall turned to Lockhart, "Well, you've been saying all year how you know where the Chamber is and how you can kill the monster. Go and prove yourself."

Lockhart looked confused, "What, now?"

"Yes, while the girls may still be alive." McGonagall told him, and he reluctantly left the room.

"What if he gets killed?" Sinistra asked McGonagall.

"I'm sure the students will happily dance on his grave."

**Slytherin Common Room**

"Draco, she'll be fine, she said she saw that she would in her vision." Blaise assured the weary Draco.

"Seeing is more luck than fact, she could've been wrong." Draco said.

Blaise felt strongly that Vaughn could make it through anything, for Merlin's sake she had beaten up another student and still gotten off easy with Snape, so he told Draco so in the best way he could, "Alright, if she dies, I'll snog with both Crabbe _and _Goyle."

This caught Draco's attention, as well as the goons, and Crabbe said, "We won't let you snog us."

Blaise laughed, "If I lose the bet, which there is no way in hell I won't, I will put both of you in a full body bind and snog you until you admit you two are gay."

Quite the statement when Blaise himself was straight, although everyone had their suspicions that the two goons were gay, and both of them protested that fact and left the group to go sulk in a corner.

**First Floor Corridor**

Ron and Harry drug Lockhart up the staircase, Lockhart fighting the whole way.

Ron was extremely unsympathetic, "What happened to the brave hero who fought banshees, and vampires, and werewolves, and hags and-"

"Fine, I admit it, I didn't do any of that, I stole it from the people who did and changed their memory." Lockhart admitted, "Now can I leave?"

"Sorry, but McGonagall said you had to go fight the monster, so here you go." Harry said, glad to finally get his revenge on the man who wanted him to be focused on reaping glory. They pushed him into the girls' bathroom, which Lockhart protested, and Harry opened, and students volunteered him to be the first into the Chamber.

**Chamber of Secrets**

It had been almost an hour, and Ginny stirred, and looked around, then saw Vaughn. Her mouth opened, and a minute later she seemed to find the words to speak, "I'm sorry, you shouldn't have been dragged into this."

"I more or less brought myself into this. Don't apologize, it's a sign of weakness." Vaughn responded and helped Ginny prop herself up, "So, have you been Tom's puppet all year."

"Yeah, I kept on blacking out, and afterwards find out there was an attack. After the wall I found my hands covered with blood." She cast her eyes down, and they landed on the diary, "I found that in my book bag, and I started writing in it, and Tom wrote back. He became my best friend, and then I started having the black outs. I tried to get rid of it on Valentine's day before you and me…"

Vaughn nodded, "How did you get it back?"

"Harry found it, I don't know how, but he found it. I didn't want Tom using him as a puppet, so I stole it back and was afraid to try to get rid of it after my first try failed." Ginny answered, "And then it kept calling me, and I ended up writing it. Next thing I knew, Hermione and Penelope are in the hospital wing, all because of me. Today the last thing I remember is dropping the book and it landing open."

Vaughn felt bad for Ginny, and gave her a reassuring hug as best she could without really being able to move, "I know, it's not really your fault. It's Tom."

Ginny stared at her leg, "How did that happen?"

"I caught Tom while he was possessing you, he took me down here, and I wouldn't stop fighting so he spelled me here. Oh, he sort of has his own body now." Vaughn added, "He's sucking the life out of you, you'll die, and he'll kill me. Probably torture me to death."

Ginny was quiet for a whole minute, and getting paler and paler, "The only reason I was blaming you is because I didn't want to believe it was me that was acting as the heir. I didn't really hate you that much either, Tom just…"

"Fed your anger?" Vaughn finished as she began nodding off, "It's alright, I don't blame you. The Valentine was cruel though."

"Fred's idea," Ginny smiled as she slumped on the floor, slowly dying. Vaughn sighed, at least she had let Ginny die with smile on her face.

-

(A/N: Alright, next chapter will have a lot of action in it, so expect it to be a few days for me to actually write it. Please review, and also, IF YOU HAVE TIME: there's a poll on my profile page, please take it, I want your imput!)


	8. The Ordeal Ends

IINSY Chapter 8

Vaughn's head shot up as the door to the hall opened, revealing the Gryffindor Boy Wonder, Harry Potter. Of course, this was when she realized that Tom had been talking in parseltongue. His expression changed to worry as he noticed her and Ginny, and hurried over to see if Ginny was dead. Vaughn put her hand against Ginny's neck, "Relax Potter, she's still breathing." _Barely, _she thought, but didn't dare say it out loud, not when he was the only chance she'd get out alive.

"Wait, so you are the heir?" Potter asked, utterly confused, "But I thought-"

"No, I'm not the heir," Vaughn said defensively, and then pointed behind him, "He is."

Tom gave a feral smile, "Why, hello Harry."

Vaughn spaced out as he explained the name, and demonstrated that the letters could be changed around to spell out Voldemort. He then went on about how he was so eager to know how Harry survived the killing curse, and then how he had come to have a body after a year of having Ginny write to him, before finally announcing that he would kill Harry with Slytherin's monster. He hissed loudly, and above them, Vaughn could hear something moving.

Harry walked over to hear as the noises got closer, and with a spell released her. He looked her in the eye, "The creature is a giant snake, called a basilisk. Whatever you do, don't look it in the eye, it's instant death. Seeing it's eyes in the reflection of a puddle will petrify you. Try to keep Ginny out of the way."

Vaughn considered saying no right then and there, but as the statue of Slytherin's mouth opened, she picked up Ginny with some difficulty being that Ginny was her size, maybe bigger. Vaughn staggered under the weight, but made it to the wall and looked for a place to hide, and was glad to see an indent in the wall that she used. In one movement, she slumped Ginny in the back and leaned against the wall. Remembering Potter's warning, she used her robe to cover her eyes.

Now, the following few moments were tense as Vaughn heard the monster arrive and Tom send insults over what had been sent to fight the monster with. Apparently it was the sorting hat and Dumbledore's phoenix. Vaughn wished she could see the battle, and she closed her eyes. Miraculously, she could see a dim version of what was going on in the battle, a few seconds ahead of the sounds she was hearing from the real world. Potter had somehow pulled a sword out of the sorting hat, which Vaughn thought was a rather silly place to put a sword. Also, the bird had blinded the snake, making it impossible to kill on sight. Vaughn saw that Potter had deemed it safe to look at the monster, and came out from her hiding place, wincing from the bruises she had gotten from fighting with Tom and hid behind a pillar to watch.

Vaughn watched Potter fight, and realized that he was actually winning. It was a few minutes later that he was able to kill the monster, but not without receiving a great injury. He had been bitten by the basilisk, and Tom was now laughing, "Well, I have to say, I think I'm going to enjoy you dying a slow, agonizingly painful death."

Trying to think of a way to stop Tom, Vaughn's eyes swept the room, finally landing on the tattered diary that Tom had come from and smirking as she got an idea. She quickly snatched the book up from the floor where it had been left and threw it to Potter, who just stared at her, "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"The fang," Vaughn yelled at him, and the Gryffindor seemed to get the idea and yanked the snake fang from his shoulder and stabbed the diary with it. Tom screamed and the book started bleeding ink. That was all the encouragement that Potter needed to stab the book repeatedly until Tom was reduced to a painful memory, and the phoenix landed on his shoulder and began crying.

"Potter, you are one lucky little Gryffindor," Vaughn commented, remembering a book she had read on phoenixes, "The tears will heal any wound, neutralize any venom. You aren't going to die."

The tears healed the wound instantly, and Potter stood up, "So, where's Ginny?"

Vaughn rolled her eyes, picked up the two wands left behind when Tom had 'died' and led him to the little alcove, where they both took one side and lifted Ginny, who was still unconscious. Vaughn was asked to carry the sorting hat and diary, and was wearing the hat, while she had suggested Potter put the bloody diary in his robe pocket, since he was already covered in blood. He also carried the sword, and opened the stone door ways with parseltongue as they came to them. He gave her a look when they were nearing the end, "Why are you helping?"

"It's not because I like you," Vaughn said truthfully, "But I don't like the sound of pissing you off and being abandoned down here to die."

Potter shook his head, as if to say he expected no less from a Slytherin, "Okay, than how did you get down here. It's not like you're an enemy of the heir."

Vaughn stopped herself from replying that she actually was, and instead said, "I caught him possessing Ginny and adding the last line on the wall, he didn't want to have any witnesses." Potter thankfully accepted that as an answer and they continued through the caverns silently, arriving at a hug pile of pebbles that had been reduced greatly in size. Weasley called them through, and helped them pass Ginny through.

Weasley groaned, "Did you _have_ to save her too?"

"Yes, I couldn't have gotten Ginny back as easily without her, and she helped defeat the heir."

"Wait, you beat the heir of Slytherin?" Potter nodded, "Who was it?"

"Same as last time," Potter said, how he had framed Hagrid had been part of Tom's ridiculously long speech, "Now, where did Lockhart get off to?"

"You brought that idiot down here?" Vaughn asked, and they glared back in a way that said 'it seemed like a good idea at the time', and Vaughn rolled her eyes at their foolishness.

After several minutes of staring at the pipe that went almost directly up, Vaughn remembered how phoenixes could carry the heaviest loads as if they weighed nothing, and they all held hands. Harry first, then Ron holding his unconscious sister, Vaughn holding her other arm, and a seriously messed up Lockhart was holding Vaughn's other hand. She considered dropping him, but realized that he would probably spend the rest of his life in a mental institution in the first place.

The reached the girl's bathroom, and Vaughn was a little disturbed by how comfortable the two boys were in there, but didn't say a word about it. They were met in the hall by Dumbledore, who's presence was surprising after a few months, but he quickly used _ennervate_ on Ginny, who while unsteady, was able to walk to McGonagall's office under her own power with a little help from Ron. McGonagall and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were already there, along with Professor Snape. Ginny and Ron had soon been embraced and sat down, Vaughn was seated as well, the three teachers were standing around them, and Lockhart had been sedated and sent up to the infirmary.

Molly Weasley looked over at Vaughn, "Aren't her parents coming?"

Snape, who knew that the orphanage would not be sending a representative simply answered, "Her guardians would not have been able to be here until morning, and I believe they will not be visiting seeing as she is fine." The Weasleys accepted this answer, though casting a sympathetic eye on Vaughn, but listened to the other students talk first. Ginny first, then Harry and Ron, and then all attention turned to Vaughn, who had the worst injuries, seeing as Harry had been healed.

"Ms. Milthorpe, can you tell us what your part of the story is?" Dumbledore asked, and she found herself not being impressed with the headmasters tone.

Vaughn hesitated, and then looked to Snape, "Should I tell them what I am?"

They were confused as to what she was talking about, but pleased when Snape told her that it would make more sense if she did.

"I'm a Seer," Vaughn began, "Before every attack I have been getting headaches that lead me to the place where the attacks occurred. That's what happened on Halloween when I found Mrs. Norris, and what happened three weeks ago when Granger and Clearwater were attacked. I snuck out of my house and followed it again today, and it led me to the wall outside the girl's bathroom on the second floor. I found Ginny there, but she was being possessed. She was the one writing on the wall, and it was decided I would be taken into the chamber as well, and I was threatened to go into the Chamber."

"Once in there, I was lead to the main Chamber, where I was given a chance to fight, and lost," Vaughn remembered bitterly, "That's where I got hurt. Tom grew bored, and left Ginny's body, which knocked her out, and emerged in a semi-solid body. He then taunted and restrained me, and left. He returned when Potter arrived. The others have told the rest of the story."

The adults looked slightly concerned that she had been forced to go into the chamber, and then had been dueled. Vaughn had already relinquished the sorting hat, and now pulled Ginny's wand from her pocket from when she had picked it up, and handed it to it's rightful owner. The adults spoke a little more, but Vaughn was numb to it, and she only sort of paid attention to Ginny getting chewed out by her mother for continuing to write in a book that wrote back. It was a relief when Dumbledore said, "Alright, everyone, feel free to go to bed, although, Mr. Potter, I would like to talk to you for a second in my office."

Vaughn stood and filed out of the room with everyone else, and was followed down the stairs by Snape, who put a hand on her shoulder, "Are you alright?"

Vaughn thought for a moment, "I think so… Tom knew."

Snape gave her a funny look, knowing that she wasn't talking about being a Seer, "how did he know you were a muggleborn?"

"I don't know, he just did." Vaughn said coldly, "He was going to torture me to death, that's how he got me to go down there. He disarmed me, and told me he would give me a quick death if I cooperated, and torture me if I didn't, and he was willing to because I was a… a mudblood."

Snape was silent for a full moment, obviously not quite sure what to say because Vaughn was an odd case, and finally said, "You're injured, are you sure you don't want to go to the infirmary?"

Vaughn shook her head, "I'm fine, I just want to go to bed."

She continued down towards the Slytherin common room, Snape by her side. She said the password and was confused when the door didn't open. Soon after she remembered that Snape was the only on to saw the password in three weeks, and probably changed it. Vaughn stood aside and looked at the potions master, who opened the door and walked in before her. Vaughn followed him in, only to be hugged by what she was sure was Draco.

"You bloody idiot, you could have died. Are you okay?" Draco said, obviously seeing the scrapes on her.

"A few scrapes, and I'm shaken, but nothing else." Vaughn said, true to her vision this morning, even though it seemed like longer since then.

"Ms. Milthorpe, how did you sneak away?" Snape asked, and Draco stepped away, obviously having the same question.

Vaughn smiled, "I told Draco I was talking with a few of the girls, and hid in the bathroom while everyone left to go to dinner." Draco seemed to find this funny, Snape, less so.

**June 5, 1993**

Vaughn was lying on the grass by the Quidditch pitch, mainly because no one was there. It had been announced a few days ago that due to a stressful school year, final exams had been cancelled. This was Vaughn's escape, she was tired of being asked to tell the story, and being alone was the only way to stop it as of late. However, she was far from surprised when she heard footsteps and the newcomer laid down next her. She didn't even open her eyes. "Morning, Draco."

"…Morning," He replied, a little disappointed.

"Could you get something out of my bag for me?" Vaughn asked, knowing he was closer to it, and truthfully she didn't feel like getting up.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Just look in the large side pocket. It should be the only thing in there." Vaughn instructed, and heard him undo the clasp on her bag.

Draco looked in the pocket and pulled the small, flat box that had been wrapped in green with a small silver bow on it, "Vaughn?"

"Go on, open it." Vaughn finally opened her eyes and sat up, "You think I'd forget your birthday?"

Draco rolled his eyes and began unwrapping the gift, wondering when she had learned the date of his birthday, and how she had managed to get him a present. He blanched when he saw what it was though. It was an ordinary wood picture frame that had been painted black, but the picture was unexpected. It was him and Vaughn in playful origami combat during the time they were stuck in the common room. He noticed it seemed to show no one really winning, and both of them were smiling.

"Pansy took the picture." Vaughn offered, making Draco's eyes dart up to meet hers, "I thought you might like the memory."

"Thanks," He said, used to getting presents that were expensive, but had no sentimental value, "Now I need to know when your birthday is so I can get you a present."

He saw Vaughn's smile fade as she thought, "I think it was sixteen days ago, I just forgot… again."

"So I missed it?"

"Hey, I did too. I've been twelve for over two weeks without even knowing it." Vaughn shot back, smiling again.

"So, do you think your parents would let you come over during the summer?" Draco asked after a moment of silence.

Vaughn shook her head, "No, I have… obligations over the summer, so I can't really go anywhere."

"Oh." Draco said softly, "If that changes, just owl me, the offer to come over stands through the whole summer."

"Thanks," Vaughn said, hating more and more that she was at the stupid orphanage.

**June 16, 1993**

Lynn walked through the halls of the first floor of the apartment building to the end of the hall where two doors stood, numbers sixteen and seventeen. Sixteen was lived in by a good friend of the older Pack members, Remus Lupin. Number seventeen was Sable and Ferret, and that was the door that she knocked on. A few moments later, Sable opened the door, "Lulu?"

Ferret turned from the dinner she was cooking, "Well, well, she lives."

"Come on," Sable urged her to come in and sit at the table, "So what brings you here?"

"I was adopted by an elderly lady, and she passed on a week ago, we buried her over the weekend, me and a few of her friends." Lynn explained, "Her will was read yesterday, she left her entire fortune to me, as well as the money that comes from selling her property."

The older two just stared at her, their mouths opened. Ferret was first to compose herself, "Just how much did she leave you?"

Lynn looked a little hesitant, "Well, it's been explained to me that I have an account that has approximately one million eight hundred thousand pounds. The property is expected to sell for another two to three hundred thousand pounds."

"Damn, that's a lot of money," Sable said, "And you came _here_?"

"Well, it's not that simple. I don't have access to the money for sixty days, which is August. Until then, I have about a hundred pounds." Lynn said, "However, I also have a proposition for you two."

"Trust me, you have our attention." Ferret said.

Lynn smiled, "Alright, you two let me stay here for the summer, and in August we'll pick out a house that I'll use the money to buy. It's the least I can do for how you helped me and Vaughn years ago."

This plan was quickly agreed upon.

-

(A/N: Okay, for any of you who care, 1,786,826 some pounds is about equivalent to 3,000,000 dollars in U.S. currency. In other words, Lynn is now extremely rich. Next chapter will be the entire summer. Also, you may have noticed my penname changed, don't worry, I did that on purpose. Please review!)


	9. Summer and Dementors

**July 12, 1993**

Vaughn vaguely regretted finishing her summer homework so soon. Truthfully, the orphanage had grown bland, and the girls she shared her room with were so full of muggle eccentrics that it made her feel sick. She hadn't lost contact with Draco, a letter every couple weeks was all that kept her sane, which was constantly being questioned. And today was one of those days that she was forced to be in that terribly cheerful psychiatrist's office talking with Dr. Fried.

"Do you have any friends at school?" Dr. Fried searched, trying to get a grasp on her new and interesting behavior.

"Yes," Vaughn replied calmly and after a few moments of questioning silence from him, explained, "You asked if I had any, I do. I said yes, fully answering your question, so what's the problem."

"Could you describe them to me?" Dr. Fried asked, realizing once again that Vaughn wasn't the everyday kid that would have launched into an immediate discussion of current friends.

Vaughn rolled her eyes, "Well, there's Pansy, who's a bit uppity and is a terrible gossip, but she's nice once you get to know her. Vince and Gregg are like body guards, and are a little thickheaded, but have great sense's of humor. Blaise is outgoing and not afraid to speak his mind, and just easy to talk to. And Draco, my best friend, is proud, arrogant and over-protective."

"So, four boys and one girl?" Vaughn nodded as if to say 'duh', and Dr. Fried thought for a moment, "Are there any people you hate?"

"Ginny, Luna, Potter."

"Potter? Is that a last name?"

"Yeah,"

"Why do you hate him?"

"He steals attention, whether he means to or not, and plays victim when he has a spoiled life style and almost has a fan club."

"Has he stolen any attention you feel belongs to you?"

Vaughn looked him in the eyes, "No, but he's stolen attention from Draco."

Dr. Fried spied a possible connection, "And how do you feel about Draco?"

"He's a friend."

"Just a friend?"

"I'm twelve, he just turned thirteen, of course we aren't more than friends!" Vaughn was getting a little annoyed."

"Okay, would you like him to be more than a friend later on?"

"Why blind myself with the future when I should be concentrating on the present?" Vaughn said, and the man looked stunned at her sudden reaction, "May I leave now?"

Dr. Fried looked at the clock to see her session was pretty much over, he made a note of where she had reacted in the conversation, "Go ahead."

Vaughn walked from the office and returned to her room, ignoring the looks from the others. She'd grown immune to their penetrating stares. Draco's eagle owl was sitting in the window when she got back, and she smiled as she received her letter, feeding the owl a treat. She opened the letter and read:

_Vaughn,_

_You told me earlier that you didn't get the post, so I thought I'd let you know about the important article in the news today. Sirius Black, a murderer that killed a bunch of muggles in the middle of a busy street thirteen years ago escaped from Azkaban. He's the first to ever escape from Azkaban. The ministry's having trouble trying to talk their way out of being blamed for the escape. I attached the photo from the paper so you'll know what he looks like._

_Draco_

Vaughn unfolded the photo to see a moving picture of man with wild hair and eyes, with a pained expression on his face, occasionally screaming. Vaughn tilted her head, the man looked old, but in the same way that Sable always had. He'd seen too much in life.

**July 31, 1993**

Harry was miserable, he had hated all the attention over the year with the basilsk, but he thought that the Dursleys was rose by far. And today - of all days, his birthday - his 'aunt' Marge had come over. She hated him, plain and simple. He doubted he would be able to make it through two weeks of her insulting his parents and making him cater to her stupid dog without doing something stupid.

Little did he know that seven days later he would 'blow her up like a balloon'. Oh well, it's not like she didn't have it coming.

**August 22, 1993**

Ferret was pleased, three days ago all the paper work was finished for the three members of the Pack that were still together to own the house on the edge of town that had three bedrooms and two floors. It was nothing particularly fancy, but the three had found the old Victorian house to be rather cozy. They were taking over the first of their things their afternoon to start moving in, mainly some clothes and homey trinkets that would get the empty house to feel more like a home. Sable had been on his way back from putting one of the boxes in car when he saw Remus' door open and the flat in various stages of being packed.

"You're leaving too?" Sable asked, alerting Ferret and Lynn to what Remus was doing.

Remus sighed, "Yeah, I got a really good job offer in Scotland that I couldn't refuse."

"Doing what?" Ferret asked, joining Sable in the doorway.

"Teaching at a school for special children." Remus said, which was true in it's own way. Being able to use magic was certainly special, just not what sprung to Lynn's mind.

"Really? Then could you do me a favor?" Remus gave a weary nod, "My little sister, Vaughn Milthorpe, is going to a school for kids with psychological issues, and I've been trying to find her for years. If I write her a note, would you give it to her if you find her?"

Remus wished he could have refused, but the look on her face and not being able to refuse without telling them about the magical world made him cave, "If I see her, I will."

Lynn quickly found paper and a pen and neatly scrawled a note, folding it and putting Vaughn's name on it. She thanked Remus repeatedly for what he said he'd do for her. Remus sighed as he closed the door for privacy. He shrunk what remained of his possessions into a shabby trunk, putting what he didn't need into boxes that he would sell off. Remus sighed and put the letter in his coat pocket, doubting he would ever be able to give it to it's original owner.

**September 1, 1993**

Vaughn had been surprised to have Ms. Jacobs herself drive her to King's Cross, only to have it explained that Ms. Jacobs didn't want to have to answer any questions about where Vaughn was being sent off to. Ms. Jacobs pulled into the parking lot at King's Cross and asked where she was supposed to drop Vaughn off.

"Just let me off here, I know where to go." Vaughn said, and when Ms. Jacobs pulled over, she grabbed a trolley and got her trunk on it by herself, surprising Ms. Jacobs and then turned and walked into King's Cross without a second glance. She made her way to Platforms nine and ten quickly, not caring much for the crowd of muggles, more than ready to be in the magical world again. Vaughn was already at platform eight when she heard an all too familiar voice call her name, and she turned to see Draco with two people behind him that could only be his parents, the same platinum blonde hair was a dead giveaway.

Draco and his family quickly caught up, "Hi, Vaughn. Good summer?"

"Not really Draco, quite boring actually." Vaughn replied, "Yours?"

He shrugged as if to share the same sentiment for the summer, "This is my mother and father."

Vaughn was a little shocked when they both shook her hands, "If I remember right, you're Lucius and Narcissa. Pleased to meet you."

The two returned the words, as was customary for purebloods. Lucius had been giving her a somewhat odd look since they met a couple minutes before, and it was finally explained with what he said next, "I noticed you're alone. Aren't your parents here?"

"My parents aren't up for traveling as of late," Because they're six feet under, Vaughn finished in her head, "So I was dropped off by a caregiver."

While that was true, it made it sound to the Malfoys like her parents were incredibly sick, and Narcissa was extremely sympathetic, "That's too bad, how long have they been sick like this?"

I decided to keep the same time frame they had been dead for, "About eight years." Conversation paused as we entered the platform to get on the train, and on the other side, Draco was giving Vaughn a strange look.

"There's a lot I don't know about you," He said softly.

"Well, you've only known me a year," Vaughn replied, smiling. _He has no idea how much I haven't told him, I'm not an only child, my parents are dead, I'm a filthy little mudblood… if only he knew. _Vaughn thought to herself.

"The two of you should hurry up and get on the train," Lucius said curtly, and Draco nodded his goodbye to his parents and we boarded the train.

After storing our trunks on the train we found an empty compartment where we would probably be joined by Blaise, Pansy and the goons. And I gave Draco a curious look, "Your parents were… stiff. Are they always that proper, or is it just an act put on to guard their reputations?"

Draco gave a weak smile, "It's an act, but they forget every once in a while that they don't need to do it at home."

The compartment door slid open, and Vince and Gregg came in and sat opposite each other. So, now Vaughn was between Draco and Vince, and Gregg was sitting across from all of us. There was a couple minute exchange of how their summers were spent, which was once again met with a remark of nothing special. Pansy was next to enter, moving between the goons' legs to take the window seat opposite of Draco. The three then watched as Vince and Gregg shared uncharacteristic mischievous grins and put their legs directly across the ground in front of the door.

Less than two minutes later, a happy and rather unobservant Blaise walked quickly through the door, tripping over their legs. His five friends started laughing, and he shot the two a glare as he stood up and brushed imaginary dust from his clothes. He sat close to Pansy to avoid sitting to close to Gregg. We asked about his summer, and he replied, "It was great until I got tripped by two of my so called friends."

Pansy then talked for about half an hour on her summer. She was the only one in the group that did, the rest by nature talked very little, unless of course bragging in front of those needing to be impressed. Conversation moved to thoughts on the new Defense teacher, which Blaise claimed was riding the train and was in the last compartment sleeping. Pansy had apparently walked past the compartment and saw the man.

"He's got this worn out coat, and his clothes are shabby, he's got scars on his face and he just looked tired, but not sleepy tired." Pansy spouted off, not quite able to explain how he looked like life had caught up with him. Her thoughts were interrupted by the compartment getting suddenly cold and the train slowing down.

"There's no way we're at Hogwarts," Blaise said, and they all looked out the window, it was dark and the dim scenery was slowing down more and more, until it stood still. Draco, who had been bracing himself with a hand on the glass, pulled away suddenly as ice quickly spread across the window. The lights flickered off and a few lights remained in the hallway casting a dim light over the compartments where confused whispers were dying down. This was followed by a dismal feeling filling everyone, like the happiness had been zapped out of them.

Now, Draco, Pansy, Blaise, Vince and Gregg all moved back to their seats with their wands in their hands hoping for whatever was going on to pass. Vaughn however froze, her most painful memories coming back all at once. She remembered being on the streets before meeting up with the Pack and nearly starving to death, she remembered feeling alone, even surrounded by the Pack. She remembered being captured, taken from her sister, and the looks she got at the orphanage. Worst of all, how easily she had accepted that she was going to die last May.

"Vaughn," She barely registered what Draco had said, but was shaken from her memories by him, literally. She had no idea what had happened, but if she was half as pale as she felt, she could see why Draco was panicked. He saw she was finally coming back to herself, "Are you alright? You're trembling and you were whining."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure you mean whimpering." Blaise corrected, and Draco shot him a glare.

"You aren't helping. I'm taking her to the defense teacher, hopefully he knows what those… things were." Draco said, and opened the compartment door, motioning for Vaughn to follow. Her legs weren't working though, and Draco put her arm over her shoulders and helped her walk, practically supporting her whole weight. They made their way to the end of the train an Vaughn began noticing that the frost was gone, the lights were back on and the train had started moving again. She vaguely wondered why she hadn't noticed before, but blocked it out of her mind when Draco knocked on the door to the last compartment.

Hermione Granger opened the door to the compartment, and there was a shared look of dislike Draco and Vaughn and Hermione and Ron. Meanwhile, Draco could see that Potter was passed out on the seat and a shabby man was seeing to him, the new defense teacher he presumed. They stood in silence as Harry was woken up and given chocolate, and then the man turned to Draco, "Did she feint too?"

"No," Draco said, "She just froze and became unresponsive."

Vaughn silently thanked Draco for not mentioning that she had been whimpering, the last thing she needed was for the Gryffindors to know that. Well, at least she didn't feint like the golden boy.

The man looked at Vaughn, "Bad memories?"

Vaughn made no effort to soften her expression as she nodded, unhappy about admitting that to a stranger.

The man seemed to guess the reason for part of her hesitance, "I'm Remus Lupin, I'll be the Defense teacher this year." He pulled another bar of chocolate from his coat pocket, "Those creatures that were on the train when it stopped were dementors, they feed off good memories, and make your worst memories come into your head. Most just get depressed, but others get stuck in their memories, and some even feint. She should be fine after eating the chocolate though. I assume you'll make sure she does."

Draco heard the dismissal and led Vaughn out of the room, who was deep in thought now. Dementors sounded familiar, so she asked, "Aren't dementors the creatures that guard Azkaban."

"Yeah, but I've never heard of them being this far from Azkaban. Must be because they think that Black's going after Potter," Draco said as the entered the compartment, he told the others that it was a dementor as he and Vaughn settled into their previous sitting position. He then continued, "They say that Sirius Black killed the muggles after selling out the Potters to the Dark Lord. The ministry thinks that he broke out to finish what he started: killing all of the Potters."

Vaughn refused to answer any questions on what memories she had seen that made her freeze like that, much to the frustration of her friends. The rest of the ride was filled with meaningless talk and questions about Professor Lupin. Once off the train and in the Great Hall for dinner, Vaughn made one noise during dinner. A groan once Dumbledore announced that the dementors would be guarding the school all year or until Sirius Black was captured. Also, she learned that third years and above would be able to go to Hogsmeade, which meant that her five friends would be ditching her throughout the year.

Draco seemed mildly apologetic, but was a little excited to go to Hogsmeade. The other four were blatantly happy, which Vaughn wasn't amused by. Once in the common room she immediately went to bed, and didn't plan on seeing them at breakfast in the morning. They could have at least waited until classes tomorrow to start bragging about going to Hogsmeade.

-

(A/N: Wow, it's been a while since I've posted a chapter for this story. I blame having another story going (that I actually get reviews for) and having a one-shot pop into my head last week. Hopefully the next chapter won't take half as long for me to write. Welcome to Harry's third year, and see how Vaughn complicates the plot. Reviews will make the writer more willing to write this story, rather than working on TL:ME instead!)


	10. A Letter to the Pack

IINSY Chapter 10

**September 2, 1993**

On the first day of classes, Vaughn had a morning of Potions and Charms, and transfiguration after lunch. Now, rumors had been known to circulate around Hogwarts quickly, and Draco being in the hospital wing made itself known to Vaughn less than two minutes into the fifteen minute break between classes. To no one's surprise, Vaughn quickly climbed to the hospital wing on the fourth floor. Draco was in the bed on the end, closest to the windows and was sitting in a way that suggested he was sulking.

"You didn't even make it through the first day of classes." Vaughn said, sitting on the end of the hospital bed despite the chair not two feet away.

"It's not my fault, that brute Hagrid brought hippogriffs into class, and one of them attacked me. I'm lucky to be alive." Draco was frowning, staring at his right arm that was pulled into a sling.

"Sorry," Vaughn said softly, and in response to Draco's confused expression she added, "I think my misfortune with magical creatures has rubbed off on you."

Vaughn was trying to get Draco to smile, because you could hardly blame an animal for attacking him, he probably unknowingly provoked it. However, he still had an angry expression on his face, so Vaughn quickly offered to write to his father about the incident since his arm was broken. Vaughn quickly wrote out the note and promised to send it after History of Magic, and hurried off to class, arriving late, but Professor Binns never seemed to notice.

**September 3, 1993**

Remus' first day teaching had gone particularly well, and now he was almost dreading what he had been told would be a hard class: second year Gryffindor and Slytherin, and it was a double period. Apparently, there were two girls that never got along in the class, but they hadn't told him who, which had him worried. Class started with a single student missing, a Slytherin by his count. He was about to start class when the door opened a girl with black hair and bright blue eyes walked through the door, "Sorry I'm late Professor."

"What's your name?" Remus asked, recognizing her as the girl who had frozen on the train when she saw the dementors.

"Vaughn Milthorpe, sir." She answered taking the empty seat in the back corner. Remus hesitated, recognizing the name as that of Lynn's sister.

"I'd like you to stay after class," Remus said, and Vaughn nodded in understanding. He started the class, saying that they would be working primarily with creatures this year, as a starting point. Students began laughing, and there was a distinct groan in the classroom. Remus rolled his eyes, "Would anyone like to tell me what's so funny about working with creatures?"

Ginny Weasley raised her hand and was called on to answer, "It's because of Milthorpe, she's terrible with animals, and now she has two magical creatures classes."

"Because I need twice the chance to get attacked by some supposedly docile creature," Vaughn spoke up, not caring that it was out of turn.

Remus quieted the room, "In this class, we will be learning to disarm the creatures, and they will rarely even be close enough to attack you. Now, turn to page twenty-three in your books, we start working with redcaps next week."

Class seemed to drag on, and the Gryffindors seemed to have some sort of vendetta against Vaughn, calling her the Slytherin Princess and a hater of muggleborn hater. Remus was starting to think that this was a different Vaughn Milthorpe, but decided to go through with his plan anyway. After class she remained as her peers rushed off to lunch. She placed her book back in her bag, pocketed her wand and looked at him expectantly, "So, do I have detention or something for being late?"

Remus shook his head, "No, I would actually like to talk to you about a completely unrelated issue. Your name is Vaughn Milthorpe, correct?"

"Yeah," Vaughn answered, now confused.

"For the last few years I've been living next to a couple, and for the summer a friend of theirs moved in. A young lady named Lynn Milthorpe," Remus watched as Vaughn seemed to be affected by the name, "When I said I was going off to teach, she asked me to give her sister a letter if I saw her. I was wondering-"

"The couple, their names were Sable and Ferret, right?" Vaughn asked, an odd look on her face as she spoke.

"Yes, so I can assume you're the sister I was supposed to find?" Remus asked, and Vaughn nodded. Remus pulled the letter from his desk and handed it to Vaughn who opened it immediately, and he knew what she had been sent. We've missed you, we hope you are well, this is our address, you are welcome in our home, get back to us soon. Vaughn's face had gone blank in thought.

"What the hell do you think you're playing at?" She said in a low voice.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Obviously you've found out that I'm a muggleborn and have decided to mess with me." Vaughn replied.

"Ms. Milthorpe, I promise this is from your sister. You should recognize her handwriting."

"I haven't seen my sister in five years, and was in no position to see her writing." Vaughn said, "And don't you tell a soul that I'm a muggleborn."

"At least consider sending them a reply," Remus said as she walked through the door. This was going to be harder than he had thought.

**September 7, 1993**

At lunch, Vaughn came up the stairs to find Draco looking bored to death lying in bed, which is how he had spent much of the last three days, seeing as Vaughn had to write down most of his work for him (the teachers only allowed this because she was a year younger than him). Needless to say, he was surprised to see her at lunch, happy, but surprised. He smiled and sat up a little straighter, "What are you doing here?"

"And hello to you to," Vaughn smirked at his greeting, "I got a reply back from your father this morning, thought you might want to hear it."

"I can still read on my own," Draco argued.

"Yeah, but can you hold the letter?" Draco's shoulders slumped in defeat, and Vaughn began reading Lucius Malfoy's neat handwriting, adding her own embellishments as she felt necessary, "My dearest son; I am disappointed to hear that the school allowed such a monster onto school grounds without the control to keep the students safe. I have made an inquiry to the ministry to make sure that the beast that attacked is killed, and the half giant punished. You won't have to deal with Hagrid as a teacher much longer. Love always, your dearest Daddy."

Draco glared at her, "That last part didn't sound like him."

"You just hate fun, don't you?" Vaughn asked, and gave the same smile she'd been giving for the last week.

"What's wrong?" Draco asked, knowing that the oddness in her smile was probably not a good thing.

"Is it that obvious?" Vaughn asked, and Draco nodded in response, "Well, I'm not entirely sure myself at the moment. I'll tell you later."

"You better, I'm not going to stop bugging you about it until you do." Draco said.

**September 9, 1993**

Vaughn was walking inside from Care of Magical Creatures, which she had received a few small circle shaped bruises on her hands. She ignored them and started climbing the stairs, passing her friends that were coming from charms, and said there was something she had to do before meeting them in the Great Hall for lunch. She made her way up to the Defense classroom where Remus was just about to leave when she entered the room.

"Can I help you?" Remus asked, looking at the girl standing in the doorway uncomfortably, and closing the door behind her before she spoke.

"I wrote a reply, how do I send a letter to them." Vaughn replied quickly.

"If you give it to me, I can send it to them. Did you explain magic to them?" Vaughn nodded, "From now on, you can send them letters with the school owls then."

Vaughn dug the letter out of her bag, "Thank you,"

"Wait," Remus said looking at her hand, "What are the those bruises?"

"Oh, _those,_" Vaughn grimaced, "Flobberworms, no teeth, so have a dozen just kind of suction-cupped to my hand, leaving these lovely bruises."

"I didn't even know they could do that," Remus said softly.

"Well, I seem to bring out the worst in animals." Vaughn shrugged and left with a wave of her hand.

For the first time in days Vaughn felt better as she went down to the Great Hall and sat next to Draco, it was his first day out of the Hospital Wing and had been telling the story over and over. Vaughn smiled as she settled into the triviality of it all.

**September 13, 1993**

Sable was a little uncomfortable in their new home, reminding him too much of his childhood home, but the girls had done much to make it more like a larger version of the apartment. Sable flipped through the mail that morning as he walked into the dining room, and stopped as he saw on of the letters.

"Sable, what's wrong?" Ferret asked coming up to him and looking over his shoulder, "Oh…"

Lynn looked at the two of them, "Who's it from?"

Sable snapped out of his shock and handed the letter to Lynn, "It's from your sister."

Lynn took the letter, seeing her name printed clearly on the envelope above their address, and Vaughn's name without a return address. The envelope was torn open and Lynn pulled two folded pieces of paper out, with small, neat handwriting. Lyn smiled and began to read aloud:

_Lynn/Lulu,_

_I suppose this isn't your first attempt to contact me, but the orphanage doesn't allow letters, which made it impossible to contact me before I went to school. _

_I assume you are all doing well in your new house, I myself, am doing rather well. I am in my second year at a seven year school, and have five friends, all a year older than me. Professor Lupin, who claims to be a friend of yours, gave me your letter, but I think I should explain about the 'special school' I attend._

_The school is not for those mentally ill, as my orphanage, but for those born with magical powers. I'm a witch, I do magic with a wand, and I have a unique power to see into the future. We also work with magical creatures, but animals despise me, so I've learned how to treat bites for every one of them. Also, we send letters by owl, I know this came by mail, and maybe later be can send mail by owl. Anyway, Lupin will find a way to get your letter to Hogwarts. That's what my school is called, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

_The orphanage I go to is Orville's Orphanage for the Mentally Unwell, and if you want me to come live with you, you will need to talk to the director, Ms. Jacobs, about adopting me. I'm sure she would be happy to finally have me out of her hair. They've been trying to prove I have a mental illness for years and have failed, so adopting me shouldn't be much of a problem._

_I'd like to hear what you think of this, and I know that being a witch is a little unexpected, but during the summers I'm not even allowed to use magic. Other than writing a couple essays over the summer, it won't even seem like I'm a witch. Also, I would like to know how all of you are._

_Please get back to me soon,_

_Vaughn Milthorpe_

Lynn was looking at the letter in disbelief, "What's all this talk about being a witch? There's no such thing as witches."

Sable looked about ready to agree with her when Ferret spoke up, "Actually, there is."

Lynn and Sable looked skeptical at best.

Ferret rolled her eyes, "My mom was a witch, and my dad was a wizard, my aunt, who's also a witch, has seven children, all witches and wizards, my grandparents are magical, annoying as hell, but magical."

"And you?" Sable asked.

"I'm unfortunate enough to be a squib," Ferret grimaced, "It means I have two magical parents, but have never been able to use magic. That's why my grandparents hate me, they're pureblood purists, and a squib in the family is something to look down upon."

"I don't remember my parents being able to do magic." Lynn said sternly.

"Well, I don't imagine they would have," Ferret said, "Just like normal children - called muggles in our world - are born to witches and wizards, witches and wizards can be born to muggles. They're called muggleborns, or by rude pureblood families, mudbloods. But I don't suggest calling Vaughn one."

Lynn seemed to accept it, though looked a little worried about it, but she looked to Ferret again, "What about the whole seeing into the future?"

"It's possible, but extremely rare. It's called being a Seer, and sometimes it's hard to tell if someone's actually a Seer, or just a phony. I'm pretty sure we can assume that Vaughn is telling the truth though." Ferret assured her.

Lynn thought for a moment, and then copied down the address to the orphanage that Vaughn had provided and went to go fetch her coat and picked up the keys to her car. Sable and Ferret watched her, and Sable asked, "So, where are you going?"

Lynn cast a dangerous look at him, "I'm going to go adopt my sister."

**Four hours later**

Ms. Jacobs was a little confused, it was odd that people came to visit the orphanage, more so that it was a young girl that was perhaps nineteen and had asked for her by name. She walked up to her office, and found the girl waiting in the small sitting room. Tall, long brown hair that had hints of red in it, and blue eyes that seemed all too familiar. Ms. Jacobs put a smile on her face, "Excuse me, I was told there was a young lady who wished to speak with me?"

"That would be me," Lynn said as she stood, and Ms. Jacobs led her into her office. Lynn took a seat directly across from Ms. Jacobs' desk, wearing a very determined look on her face.

"How may I help you this morning Ms…?" Ms. Jacobs realized she didn't know the young lady's name.

"Milthorpe," The lady said, and Ms. Jacobs immediately saw the family resemblance to Vaughn, "And I wish to adopt my younger sister."

_I wouldn't have to deal with Vaughn again_, Ms. Jacobs thought, but shook it from her head. She looked the girl in the eye, "You are aware that this is an orphanage for the mentally unstable."

"Has my sister ever been diagnosed with a psychosis?" Lynn asked, and from the blank look on Ms. Jacobs' face she knew that Vaughn hadn't, "If that's the case, how is it an issue?"

"Well, you were the one that drug her out to live on the streets, why should I believe that the girl won't end up on the streets again?" Ms. Jacobs said, not believing she was trying to keep Vaughn at the orphanage.

"A couple friends and I live in a two story house with four bedrooms on the edge of London, and we all have jobs. She will be taken care of during the summer when she isn't at Hogwarts." Lynn said quickly.

Ms. Jacobs blanched, "You… you know about Hogwarts?"

"Yes, I am fully aware that my sister is a witch. Do you have any other arguments to me having my sister?" Lynn asked.

Ms. Jacobs gave up, "No, I suppose I should go get the papers we have to sign." She stood and went over to a filing cabinet, pulling out a stack of papers. It took about half an hour to completely fill them out. Ms. Jacobs sighed when they were done, "Follow me."

Lynn followed her to one of the upstairs dorms, and into one where Ms. Jacobs took a key from her pocket and opened the door. It was a small bedroom, bare except for a small picture on the nightstand. Lynn picked it up, it was a photo of the Pack taken when Vaughn was six. Lynn held on to it and looked around the room, "Is that all she has in here?"

Ms. Jacobs nodded, "What little else she has she takes with her to school. On that note, you will have to pick her up at King's Cross on June 18th."

"Thank you for your help, I can find my own way out." Lynn said and walked out with the picture and the small stack of papers that proved that she was Vaughn's guardian.

It was about seven when she got home and Lynn was surprised when she heard a foreign noise coming from the dining room, and walked in to find Sable and Ferret sitting around a cage with an owl in it. Ferret smiled at her, "I went into a magical market and bought this owl, it's a bared owl. Their known for loyalty and not being uppity about blood."

Lynn looked at her, "You bought an owl?"

"For you and Vaughn, yes. The two of you need to communicate each other somehow." Ferret said smiling, "You get to name her."

Lynn sat next to bird, it was a dark brown color with off white spot, and Lynn petted the creature, which made quiet cooing noises in response. She remembered an old book she'd read years ago, where a messenger bird was named Niv, and that's the name the bird got.

-

(A/N: There's chapter 10, please review!)


	11. Black Attacks

**September 17, 1993**

"Vaughn, is that your family's owl?" Blaise asked, tapping Vaughn on the shoulder roughly.

Before glancing up, Vaughn was about to answer in the negative, but recognizing the writing on the letter the owl held she changed her answer, "It's possible." She took the letter from the owl, which promptly began picking at the half-eaten orange on her plate, and read the first two sentences before folding the letter and standing, "It's from my family, I'd rather read it in private. Niv, you go to the owlery." She rubbed the owl's head affectionately and walked out of the Great Hall.

Vaughn walked up to the second floor girl's bathroom to read the letter, it was close to her first class (charms) anyway. She unfolded the letter again and began reading her sister's handwriting:

_Dear Vaughn, _

_This is our owl, Niv, that Ferret bought for us so we could communicate. _

_I went to your orphanage, that place is terrible, it's too stuffy to be livable. Anyway, I am now your legal guardian, and we're working on setting up a room for you at the house. So I guess I'll be picking you up at King's Cross in June._

_I didn't believe that magic was real at first, but apparently Ferret is a squib (she said you'd know what that is) and she convinced me that magic was real enough. She's actually related to a family called the Weasleys, she says there should be four or five of them at Hogwarts now._

_Well, I want to know more about what's been going on with you, so please write back describing your friends, teachers, classes, etc._

_-Lynnete_

Vaughn sighed, happy that she was out of that stupid orphanage, but nervous about living with people she hadn't seen in five people. And what would she tell her friends? The idea came to her swiftly, but instead of smiling, she put on a sad face, faked some tears, and made it to Flitwick's class at the bell. Only three people on staff knew she was an orphan, McGonagall, Snape and Dumbledore. They would be confused by her act, but she would tell Snape the reason, and he would understand. Vaughn refused to talk during charms, and at lunch went to the common room, where she waited by the fire.

It was ten minutes into lunch that Draco walked into the common room and sat next to her, "Harper said he saw you crying during Charms."

Vaughn wiped one of her fake tears from her eyes, "I was."

"It was the letter wasn't it?" Draco asked, taking her hand in his to try to comfort her, "What did it say?"

"My parents died," She said looking into the fire, "My parents have been sick for years, and mother died two weeks ago, the next morning my father had been found after he killed himself."

Draco believed it and gaped for a minute as he tried to imagine her situation, "Sorry."

"Don't apologize," Vaughn said bitterly, "You didn't kill them."

"I don't know what to say then," He said, and Vaughn leaned against his shoulder, then he put an arm around her. He sighed, "So, where will you be living now?"

"My cousin Bridget, her boyfriend Nigel, and their friend Lynette. They live just outside of London." Vaughn answered.

"Wizards?" Draco asked.

"No, my cousin is a squib relative of the Weasleys, and the other two are muggles." Vaughn corrected.

"You're joking, right?" Vaughn shook her head, "That sucks."

"What sucks is they chose to tell me a week after my parents died so they would have a home for me." Vaughn argued.

**September 24, 1993**

Remus watched as over the last week Vaughn grew less and less mournful, seeming to accept her parents' deaths, which Remus found odd. He could of sworn that her and Lynn's parents had been dead for years, which is why they had been split up. The again, the comment she had made about not telling anyone she was a muggleborn seemed to imply she didn't want anyone to know.

It was that Remus realized that Vaughn was putting on the act to explain why she would be picked up by family when school was over. Remus thought about all that he had seen her do, and was surprised by the lengths that she had gone to keep her secret, "Well, it's obvious why that girl's a Slytherin." He said quietly to himself.

**October 31, 1993**

"I hate you all," Vaughn said as she got up from the breakfast table, all five of her friends were going to Hogsmeade today.

"If we could, we'd sneak you in but…" Vaughn heard Draco trail off as she left the Great Hall. She was tired of hearing them talk about the village of Hogsmeade and decided to try and find something to do to make them jealous.

However, an hour later, Vaughn found herself wandering around a nearly empty castle, nearly bored to tears. She reached the fourth floor staircase and time stopped, and the sepia tone surrounded her again. Vaughn groaned, and time began speeding past her, and she watched in amazement as students moved _through_ her as if she were a ghost. The sun went down, and she felt time stop. Vaughn looked around the staircase, and saw a piece of paper on the ground, she tried to pick it up, but it fell through her hands.

A noise behind her made her jump, a big black dog was staring at her, and knowing her luck with animals, she backed up the stairs. However the dog stopped at the paper and sniffed it before taking a step back. Then the dog morphed into a human, a man to be exact. He looked like a homeless man, wild hair, unshaven face, dirty clothes, but he looked like he may have once been handsome. The man picked up the scrap of paper and began making his way up the stairs quickly.

Vaughn followed the man up to the seventh floor and down a corridor to the side of the hall. She regretted not being able to hear as she watched the man argue with a portrait before he finally pulled out a wand and cast a hasty curse at the painting. It was an action that Vaughn could tell was done without a second thought, almost as if it was an instinct. The man instantly realized what he had done wrong as some sort of commotion seemed to be happening with the portraits throughout the floor. Vaughn watched the man morph back into the big black down and disappear around the corner.

As time stopped again, Vaughn braced herself to travel back to the stairs, but the time of day shifted back to mid-morning and colors returned without her moving. She looked around, a little confused as to where she was.

"What are you doing here, Milthorpe?" Weaselette said from behind her, and Vaughn looked to the red head glaring at her in front of the portrait she'd just seen destroyed by the strange man. She suddenly realized what it might have been.

"This is the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room, isn't it?" Vaughn said looking at the portrait, ignoring how odd the question was.

"Don't get any ideas, Milthorpe. Now what are you doing here?" Ginny said, moving to block Vaughn's view of the portrait.

"Excuse me, I've got to go find a teacher. It's an emergency." Vaughn said rushing back to the stairs. She had to find a teacher, she barely even registered what she had figured out in favor of devoting her full attention to finding a teacher. She finally found McGonagall on the first floor coming out of her office and flagged her down.

"What is it, Ms. Milthorpe?" She asked almost impatiently.

"Someone's going to break into Hogwarts, tonight." Vaughn told her quickly.

McGonagall almost laughed at her, "I assure you Ms. Milthorpe, the school is being guarded by dementors and some of the most powerful wards in the wizarding world. No one could break into Hogwarts."

Vaughn blocked her way as she turned to leave, "I don't care how safe you think it is, I had a vision of a man breaking into Hogwarts." McGonagall stopped to listen, but didn't seem to take her serious, "I think it was Sirius Black, he was in the form of a dog, and then turned into a human to try to give this portrait of a fat lady a password to try to get into the Gryffindor Common Room."

Vaughn would have found the look of surprise on McGonagall's face amusing in any other situation, "I don't know how you know where the Gryffindor Common Room is, but that isn't important. Now, how would Black be able to give the portrait a password."

Vaughn stopped her from walking away for a second time, "He picked up a slip of paper that a student dropped, it must have had the password on it."

"That's enough of this," McGonagall said sharply, "We have wards, dementors, and Dumbledore, no one is breaking in, and none of my Gryffindors would be foolish enough to write down the password. Now I suggest you find something better to do than making up stories."

Vaughn walked her walk away, and considered going to Snape. She then realized he would either have the same reaction as McGonagall, or believe her only to be criticized by McGonagall for believing her. She spent the rest of the day reading books about magic that used fire as a way of killing and time and entertaining herself at the same time. Not overly educational, but she now knew the spells to make over thirty different types of flames. In fact, she used one of them to help set up for the Halloween party: a green flame that would stand ten feet high and not spread, but was only about forty degrees Fahrenheit, so it was a pretty cold flame.

Vaughn ignored her friends during the Halloween Party, as they switched between apologizing for being so excited to go without her and talking about how cool Hogsmeade was. Draco apparently was attacked by Potter, who had snuck in under an invisibility cloak. Apparently, McGonagall had believed _that_ story. This day was just getting better and better. After the party, Vaughn finally re-entered conversation with her friends and talked for the hour until curfew, when Vaughn stood to leave.

"Oh, by the way," Vaughn turned back to say, "Don't get too comfortable in bed."

The five gave her an odd look, Draco asked, "And why is that?"

"McGonagall said it's impossible," Vaughn shrugged, "But I think we might be woken up later tonight."

Sure enough, at thirty minutes to midnight, Vaughn heard some shuffling outside the curtains and slipped on her robe to go to the common room. The boys were just waking up, and Snape looked glad to see her, "Go wake up the other girls."

Vaughn did so quickly, and soon the entire house was standing in the common room, and Snape announced that there was a break in, and we would be spending the night in the Great Hall with the rest of the school as the school was searched. There were small groans, but the Slytherins walked obediently to the Great Hall where they found Dumbledore transfiguring hideous purple sleeping bags for the students in various pyjamas (Vaughn chuckled when she saw a fourth year Hufflepuff wearing footie pyjamas).

"It's probably just to not look biased," A Ravenclaw said, "It would look bad if he made all of them a house color and it would take too long to conjure the right number for each house."

Students began settling down, and when Vaughn was just about to crawl into the sleeping bag, McGonagall walked up to her, and Vaughn smirked, "I told you so."

She wasn't in the mood for Slytherin snarkiness, "Yes, you did. Now come with me Ms. Milthorpe."

Vaughn dutifully followed McGonagall to a group of teachers, since some were already trying to find the intruder. Vaughn caught Snape's eyes and seemed to know he was upset that she hadn't come to him, no matter how foolish she thought telling him was. Dumbledore looked almost unnerved by the situation as he looked to her, "I heard you had a vision of this happening. Can you tell me who you saw break in, how they did it, and how they got the password to Gryffindor?"

"Like I told Professor McGonagall earlier, it was Sirius Black. Though when I first saw him he was in the form of a large black dog." Vaughn replied, "I didn't see how he got in, I… found him on the fourth floor."

"Found him?" Sprout asked, having just been told that she was a Seer, "What does that mean?"

"I stepped on to the fourth floor stairs, just wandering around, and was pulled into a vision. It was weird though, I've never walked while I was having a vision before." Vaughn said, aiming the last part at herself.

"What do you mean you moved?" Trelawney asked, somewhat reminding Vaughn of Lockhart in the way she pretended to know everything, "When one enters a state of vision, they do not move."

"I didn't know it was possible. If that's true then, will you explain how I came into my vision on the fourth floor, and came out of it in front of the Gryffindor Common room on the seventh floor?" Vaughn challenged.

"You must have not remembered where you were before the vision correctly." Trelawney said, ignoring the glare she was getting from McGonagall.

Dumbledore looked to Vaughn again, "Did you See how he got the password to Gryffindor?"

"He found it," Vaughn answered, "Apparently one of the Gryffindors wrote down the password and dropped it. He picked it up and almost ran to Gryffindor."

"My students would never be stupid enough to write down the password." McGonagall argued.

"What about Longbottom?" Snape asked, and McGonagall opened her mouth to argue, but she couldn't find the words to make a defense for Neville Longbottom.

Dumbledore calmly walked to a nearby group of Gryffindors attempting to eavesdrop and brought back Longbottom. He had a grave look on his face, "Mr. Longbottom, did you write down the password to your house in order to remember it?"

"Yeah, but I couldn't find it tonight, Ginny had to let me-" He stopped mid sentence, "This is all my fault isn't it?"

_Yes, _Vaughn thought, but McGonagall told him it wasn't entirely his fault, but he wouldn't be told the password for a month, and then sent him back to bed.

"As for you Ms. Milthorpe, I thank you for your help, and excuse you to get some sleep." Dumledore said and Vaughn nodded before going back to the bright purple sleeping bag between Draco and Pansy.

Draco wasn't asleep, but he had obviously been fighting off sleep. The other Slytherins hadn't really been awake, so had easily fallen back to sleep. Draco mouthed, 'You had a vision of this?'

'Yeah,' Vaughn replied, realizing that the two teachers patrolling the room wouldn't appreciate them talking.

'Everything okay?'

'Yeah,' Vaughn said, 'Go to sleep,'

Draco rolled his eyes before closing them and going to sleep. Vaughn wasn't going to get to sleep that easy though, she stayed awake, closing her eyes when the teachers got too close. It was at about three in the morning that she heard the teachers talking about having finished searching the building, they found nothing. It was only then that Vaughn allowed herself to go to sleep. At about eight people started waking up, and the entire school was awake and buzzing with curious students as the tables were returned and breakfast was served.

"So, I hear that Vaughn knows exactly what happened," Blaise said over breakfast, watching her with curious eyes.

Vaughn watched as soon she had the ten eyes of her friends looking at her expectantly, and she sighed, "Fine, I'll tell you. Sirius Black broke into kill Potter, but the portrait hole wouldn't let him though, so he shredded the picture."

"Wait, he actually knew where the Gryffindor Common Room is?" Pansy asked.

"Of course he would, he was a Gryffindor himself," Draco said and glared when everyone looked at him, "I'm not proud of it, but he was my mother's cousin. Disgrace to the family, the only thing he ever did right was killing all those muggles."

It was quiet for a moment before Vince nudged Draco's arm and pointed to the Gryffindor table, than the staff table. Half the teachers looked ready to pounce if anyone so much as got a little too close to Potter with a wand drawn. The six of them groaned in unison. Gregg shook his head, "Precious Potter steals attention again."

-

(A/N: I think only a couple people are still reading this. Sad.)


	12. Chain Reactions

(A/N: First of all, I know it's been way too long since I've posted, so this chapter is extra-long to reward you for waiting. Also, I do not own the many quotes from HP and the POA. Trust me, you'll know when you get there.)

-

Vaughn had found the school year rather.. mundane. Sure, it was only May, but school was nowhere near as exciting as the year before. Sure, Potter had been attacked by real and fake dementors alike during Quidditch (just for the record, Vaughn had told Crabbe and Goyle that their plan would only get them in trouble), and Weasley had been attacked by Black, but other than that there was nothing. Just boring school stuff. Of course, Christmas had been a fun occasion, which included watching Blaise and Pansy creating various plans over Christmas break to get Crabbe and Goyle. Valentine's day had been a quiet affair, in which Draco had given her a black rose, which had promptly died two weeks later despite Vaughn's attempts to keep it alive.

And all of this led up to a warm day in mid May where the six Slytherins were out by the lake studying grudgingly for exams. Also, Vaughn had a cold, which made the entire experience that much worse.

"Why haven't you gone to the Infirmary yet?" Pansy asked after she sneezed for what felt like the millionth time that day.

"I did," Vaughn glared at her, "And the potion she gave me didn't help that much. She told me that it was a 'minor cold and would go away soon-" Her own sneeze cut off her sentence.

"Did she give you a pepper up potion?" Draco asked, and Vaughn nodded. He dug through his bag and pulled out a small vial of a dark purple liquid and tossed it so it landed on her lap, "Try this, Professor Snape makes it for me because pepper up potion doesn't work on me either."

Vaughn shrugged and downed the potion, only to have it start burning her whole throat, and began creeping up her nostrils. Vaughn clutched her head, biting her lip to stop from yelling out in pain. She could hear her friends panicking, and Draco was talking quickly – much too quickly for Vaughn to comprehend at the moment. The pain started fading away as did the noise, and she thought that she had blacked out.

The others, however, saw that she had dropped her hands from her face and was staring straight ahead with a blank expression and glazed over eyes. Blaise looked over at Draco, "What the hell was that? I think you broke your girlfriend." Draco didn't reply, nor did he have time to as Vaughn started speaking in a far off voice:

_The dog is innocent, but not until his own demise, and by then I will be gone, we will be gone, yet not. And the rat, the rat must be captured. If not… all is lost, when the sun goes down, everything will change and we will be on a track to die, and only will can help us. Tonight, the Full Moon decides everything._

After almost a minute of silence, Vaughn blinked a few times and stared back at her friends, confused as to why she was under such scrutiny. She sighed heavily knowing she would have a lot of question to ask, and then smiled, "Hey it worked, I'm better."

Her friends shared a look, not quite knowing how to tell her what happened. Vaughn quickly noticed there was something wrong and demanded an answer that Draco grudgingly gave her, "You were in pain, and then you went into some kind of trance and started spouting off non-sense. It was really odd, probably just a side-effect of the potion, which doesn't seem to have agreed with you."

"Hn," Vaughn thought for a second, "Well, what did this so-called trance look like?"

"Your face and eyes went blank, and your voice was weird," Blaise informed her.

"Really?" Vaughn said, throwing them all off by being excited about this, "That means that whatever I said was probably a prophecy. What was I talking about?"

"Um…" Draco looked to the others for help in trying to remember what exactly she had said, having been too shocked at the time to really hear what she was actually saying, "Well, you were talking a lot about tonight, sundown I think."

"And she said something about catching a rat." Crabbe offered, and the others agreed.

"There was also something about dying and death and it was really hard to understand."

After a moment of silent Vaughn sighed heavily, "I guess it was my first prophecy, McGonagall said that any prophecy I make will probably be an unintelligible mesh of sentences, or be something I make up. Personally I hope it was just an unintelligible mesh of words."

"Well, whatever you're talking about, it's going to happen soon," Goyle said quietly, "The sun's about to go down."

They all looked to the sun, which was definitely setting, Draco got up and stretched, "We should be heading in, I don't want to be out here when that beast of Hagrid's is put out of it's misery.

The other's quickly followed suit, realizing that they were the last ones outside of the castle, not particularly odd since most students should be having dinner about now. The six began heading inside and were nearly to the doors when a ginger cat that they all recognized as Hermione Granger's ran past, casting a glance at Vaughn, who stopped in her tracks, "Guys, I'll meet up with you later. There's something I have to do."

"Vaughn, it's almost curfew, you'll get in trouble." Draco said as Vaughn began following the cat, "Are you following him? I thought you hated animals?"

Vaughn turned, "My prophecy talked about catching a rat, what better way to catch a rat than with a cat? Besides, I have a special level of hatred for rodents."

With that she turned and began jogging after the cat, ignoring the sideways glances she got from her friends, who shrugged and went inside hoping that she didn't get caught out after curfew. Vaughn saw the cat attack what looked like air before seeing the cat attached itself to an invisible figure that had now begun making noise before a red-head fell to the ground and a small figure jumped from the boy's clutches. Vaughn wasn't sure why, but she acciod the small creature, catching the vile thing in her hands as it tried unsuccessfully to get away. She intended to insult Weasley as she returned it, but a loud bark changed her plans.

A huge black dog that was all too familiar came over the rise of the hill, and Vaughn froze as she moved into a defensive stance, and the dog easily knocked her off of her feet and latched on to her arm, the one not holding the rat, and began dragging her off. She could feel warm blood trickling down her arm, and gripped the rat tighter on instinct, hearing an indignant squeak in response. The whomping willow appeared over her head, and the dog somehow got it to sit still long enough to go through a secret passage way that included dropping Vaughn onto a very hard, very dirty floor and she was sure she would have a few bruises from where her side had hit the ground.

Strangely enough, her journey stopped on a bed, where the dog let her go. She pushed herself to sit up and glared at the dog, "I know it's you, Black. You can turn into your human form to kill me."

Black changed into his true form, a ragged man in his thirties with a reckless look about him. He barked a laugh, "And why would I kill _you_, I don't even know who you are." He picked up a small cage, "Put that vermin in here, no reason to hold him."

Vaughn gladly put the rat in the cage and began examining the bite and scratch marks the violent rat had made, and it was her writing hand too. Black pulled her wand from his pocket, which surprised Vaughn because she didn't remember him taking it, and cast a healing charm on her hand. A majority of the cuts healed until there was nothing left. He then threw a tattered blanket to her.

"Sorry about the bite, but if I tried to heal it I'd probably just make things worse." Black said as she wrapped her injury to stop the bleeding. Scurried footsteps were heard from farther down the passage, Black swore, transformed and backed through a door where he could watch what happened.

"…I don't see why we're doing this, it's not like that stuck-up Slytherin Princess has ever done anything for us." Ron grumbled as they approached the door.

"She helped save your sister's life, and you didn't have to come." Harry reminded him.

"She stole my pet!" Ron defended himself.

"Not much of a loss if you ask me." Hermione muttered and the three came through the door to see Vaughn's shoulder bleeding as she laid helplessly on the bed.

"Where's the dog?" Harry asked, looking utterly confused.

Vaughn laughed bitterly, "There is no dog, just Sirius Black. Oh, and he has my wand."

As if it had been planned, the dog came into the room and transformed into Sirius Black, who had Vaughn's wand pointed at the Golden Trio. He quickly disarmed all three of them, catching their wands with ease and using another spell to close the door, trapping them all in with the crazy psychopathic killer. Vaughn couldn't help but think that her day couldn't get any better.

"I had thought I would be taking the Weasley, but apparently you came for this girl too," Black said, motioning to Vaughn as he spoke to Harry in a voice that was hoarse from lack of use, "Very noble of you, your father would have done the same. Brave of you not to run for a teacher. I'm grateful… it will make everything much easier…"

Harry started forward, and as Hermione held him back, Ron started forward yelling, "If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to us too!" Black looked like he wasn't in the mood for this, and when Ron got to close, he put a rather nasty jinx on his legs, making him unable to stand. The room was silent as Black sent a dangerous look to everyone in the room.

"Um, just for the record, I won't stop you from killing Harry. I'd rather live." Vaughn clarified.

Black rolled his eyes and grinned, "There'll be only one murder here tonight."

"Why's that?" Harry was struggling to escape Hermione's grasp, and Vaughn couldn't figure out why. Harry had no wand, Black had four, end of story. Yet the boy continued to struggle, "Didn't care last time, did you? Didn't mind slaughtering all those muggles to get at Pettigrew… What's the matter, gone soft in Azkaban?"

"Harry, be quiet!" Hermione tried, but with no avail.

"He killed my Mum and Dad!" And with that pseudo-battlecry, he lunged at Black and somehow managed to catch him off guard, where they both crashed into the wall. Harry had used one hand to avert the wand tips and was currently trying to beat Black to a bloody pulp with the other. Unfortunately, being a human being, Black had two hands, and closed the unrestrained one around his throat. Good job Potter, good job.

"No," Black growled in a low voice, "I've waited too long-"

The other two Gryffindors came to Harry's aid, and thus began a large scuffle, in which Vaughn grabbed her wand and crawled into the corner to get out of the way to watch as things progressed. It ended with Harry having his wand pointing at Black's heart.

"Going to kill me Harry?" Black asked quietly.

"You killed my parents." Harry was shaking badly, and Vaughn had the vague feeling that even if he tried, Harry would miss Black altogether. Even standing two feet from the man.

Black was still on the ground, "I don't deny that, but if you knew the whole story…"

"The whole story? You sold them to Voldemort, that's all I need to know." Vaughn repressed a yawn as Harry said this. If he had been a Slytherin, Black would be dead by now, and they would all be back in the castle having dinner.

Vaughn began realizing that this wasn't going well when she noticed that while she, Hermione and Harry had their wands, Ron's was within reach of Black, and the entire situation could change in a second. Why wasn't Black going for it if he wanted to kill Harry so bad? Vaughn finally starting piecing everything together, perhaps the man had never meant harm, she missed what was going on with everyone else in favor of examining the rat that was shaking in the small cage.

Everyone stopped and stared at the door when they heard footsteps moving towards them, and Hermione shouted to alert the newcomer, but everyone else was silent. Hermione against one wall, Harry pointing his wand at Black who had the cat lying protectively on his chest, Ron sprawled out nearby his nose bleeding from where he'd been elbowed in the face, and Vaughn curled up on the floor by the rat. Professor Lupin burst into the room and disarmed the Gryffindors, not seeing Vaughn hiding in the far corner. The room was still silent as Lupin asked, "Where is he Sirius?"

"The cage," Vaughn said after a moment of no one moving and everyone looked at her, "The rat, it's not a rat is it?"

Lupin blinked a few times, and then looked back to Black, "But… Why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless…" Lupin's eyes widened, "unless it was _him_… you switched without telling me?"

Black nodded slowly, a grimace spreading over his face. Everyone's jaws dropped open as Remus helped Sirius to his feet and hugged each other. Harry looked like he'd just been stabbed in the back, Ron was just freaked out, and Hermione was fuming, "I don't believe it, I covered for you and all this time, you were working with him!"

"Hermione, I can explain-" Remus said, talking quickly.

"I can't believe I didn't tell anyone!" She yelled.

"I trusted you and you've been working with a man trying to kill me?" Harry was beyond the point of yelling. Vaughn was just confused.

"Harry, listen to me," Remus tried to say, but Hermione cut him off again.

"Don't!" Hermione yelled making eye contact with the Defense Professor, "He wants you dead too, he helped Black get in the castle the first time, and he's a werewolf."

"Wrong." Vaughn interrupted, and everyone turned to her, "Duh, he's a werewolf, but I think that's the only thing you have right. First of all, Black got in the castle by himself, part of him being an animagus, part of him meaning no harm to a student. Whoever this rat is though, I'm guessing is not so lucky."

Everyone stared at Vaughn, until Sirius asked, "Who the hell _are_ you?"

"Vaughn Milthorpe, second year Slytherin, and apparently a chew toy." She said dryly.

"More importantly, how long have you two known I'm a werewolf?" Remus asked.

"Professor Snape's Essay." Both girls said in unison.

Remus sighed, "He was hoping that some students would figure it out."

Vaughn was being ignored, and was frustrated by the whole thing. She watched as the two older men caught everyone up to what she had figured out. There were some things she didn't get, but they were explained well enough that she knew everything. Apparently, the rat was Peter Pettigrew, and he was the one that really killed the Potters, well, told Lord Voldemort where they were. Then, Weasley started arguing against the rat being Peter and Black wanted to kill Peter and Vaughn was tired of the whole thing.

Vaughn opened the cage, grabbed the now frightened rat with one hand, and whistled loudly using her other hand. Five heads turned towards her, "Okay, I'm not really part of this other that being literally dragged into this, how about we just prove that this is Peter, kill him, and go home?"

"Vaughn, not yet, they know that he was a animagus, but not why." Remus said.

"Animagi are impervious to werewolf bites. I bet these marauders were all animagi so you wouldn't be alone, touching, really. I have a bad feeling about tonight, so can we move on with this?"

"What did Prongs stand for?" Harry asked.

"Your father was a stag," Sirius said, "I suggest we get on with this."

"On with what, Black?" Vaughn perked up at the voice, Snape had arrived, wand pointed at Black. He had just joined everyone while they were arguing. The room fell into silence as Snape surveyed the room, his eyes stopping at Vaughn. She shrugged and decided to tune everything out, the blood loss was getting to her, and she didn't care enough about what was going on to actually listen. She just sat holding the struggling rat as she tuned out the arguing. It was at least five minutes before anyone tried to get her attention.

"Give us the rat," Remus asked, and Vaughn hesitated. Her hands were covered in small scratched, some of which were bleeding, and she was tempted to just kill the rat now. Somehow she managed to hand her Professor the rat, and then watch as the rat turned into a man… that looked like a rat. And thus launched Peter begging for his life, and Remus and Sirius trying to kill Peter. It was several minutes later that they decided they would take Peter to the castle, and from there to Azkaban. Remus was allowed to bind and gag him before moving him.

Snape had been knocked out during the argument, of course, how was one voice of reason supposed to go against five Gryffindors and their prey. Black looked down at Peter, "We should have two people chained to him, just to be safe.

"I'll do it." Remus volunteered.

"And I'll be the other." Vaughn said standing, and she and Remus were chained to a now floating Peter. Ron was going to walk right behind Peter, taking it as an insult that the rat had been hiding under his nose all these years. As they began leaving, the cat (whose name was apparently Crookshanks) led the way, Vaughn and Remus followed with Peter strung behind them, Black followed them with an unconscious Severus Snape levitated in front of him, and the Golden Trio taking up the rear. Harry and Sirius were talking the entire way through the tunnel (apparently, Black was Potter's godfather). With the help of the cat they all made their way out of the tunnel at the base of the whomping willow. It was dark, and truthfully a rather cloudy night and Vaughn stopped in her tracks, "Shit."

Everyone had more or less collided behind her, and Sirius looked a little annoyed, "What are we stopping for?"

"It's the full moon," Vaughn said, and noticed that Lupin had gone rigid as the moon began peeking out from behind a cloud, "He didn't take the potion Snape made for him, he won't be safe."

Everyone stopped dead, and Sirius demanded that we all run, and the Golden Trio hesitated before running off towards the castle. Vaughn watched Sirius in his dog form tackle Remus as he broke the chain attaching him to Peter during his transformation. Remus's wand had fallen to the ground just out of reach of Peter, who then began scrambling towards the wand. Vaughn, still chained to the large rat-like man, kicked him sharply in the shin knowing he would escape if that happened, and her prophecy said the rat had to be caught. Despite her tries, the man got to the wand and transfigured himself and was released from the chains.

Vaughn swore as she watched him scamper off. She grabbed Lupin's discarded wand and shook the chains from her arms, and began feeling cold wash over her… Dementors. Vaughn freaked out, all she had was two wands, and an unconscious Potionsmaster. She knew a spell that could fix that last problem, but had never actually tried it. She gave it a try, "_Ennervate,"_

The professor's eyes flickered open and he sat up abruptly as he heard a pained howl, though Vaughn couldn't tell if it was Remus or Sirius, and didn't particularly care. The dementors plus the blood loss was starting to wear her, and she pointed to Snape's wand, which Sirius had been using. The last thing that Vaughn saw before she blacked out was Snape picking up his wand.

…

Vaughn woke up what felt like ages later, and sat up realizing that that the entirety of her arms were sore. She opened her eyed and groaned, she was lying in the hospital wing, thankfully separated from the three Gryffindors who were sitting up and talking quietly to one another. It took Madam Pomfrey only a few seconds to realize that Vaughn had woken up, and was by her side running a diagnostic spell. The woman frowned, "You seem to be having some strange chemical levels in your system, what all did you do yesterday?"

"I had a cold, took a potion to cure it that induced me to make my first prophecy, chased a rat that turned out to be Peter Pettigrew, was dragged across the Hogwarts grounds by a dog that turned out to be Sirius Black, sat through almost an hour of arguing, helped try to drag Peter back to the castle, was chained to a murderer and a werewolf at the same time, and then suffered from being too close to too many dementors." Vaughn said smiling in a bitter manner, and shrugged, "You know, the usual."

"You'll have to wear the cast on your arm for a couple of days, the bit wasn't that bad, and I'll give you a salve to help with all the scratches. Professor Snape said he wanted you to stay here so he could come talk to you." Madam Pomfrey announced before fetching the salve, and then leaving Vaughn alone. She examined her arm, a flexible cast covered her entire left upper arm, and scratches spanned from her fingers to half way up her lower arms. She also noticed she had a couple healing bruises, most likely from fighting with Peter.

It was about twenty minutes before the Golden Trio left, and another ten until Professor Snape walked into the Infirmary and walked up to Vaughn's bed, "I hope you are doing well, Ms. Milthorpe."

"I've been better," Vaughn admitted, noting that it felt weird to talk to people while in bed.

"May I ask how exactly you got involved with what happened last night?"

"I made a prophecy, and all that the people that heard it caught was that it was important to catch a rat. So I caught the rat… and then the dog caught me and, more or less, took me hostage." Vaughn answered.

"By 'they' I will assume that you mean Malfoy, Zabini, Parkinson, Crabbe and Goyle." Snape said, "How close were you when Lupin transformed?"

Vaughn thought back to the night before, "No farther than you currently are from me. Oh, and we were each chained on one side of Peter. So, what happened after I blacked out?"

"Pettigrew got away, Potter warded off the dementors, Black was taken into custody, only to escape before the Kiss could be administered, and Lupin resigned this morning." Snape listed off quickly.

"What?" Vaughn asked, "I mean, I know he's a werewolf, but he was a great teacher, much better than Lockhart, why did he resign?"

"Werewolves aren't well liked, a majority of parents will go to the school board complaining if he stays. He wants to avoid all the press." Snape explained, "As for you, I suggest you choose not to talk to anyone about last night, and only tell people what's in the paper this morning. You'll save yourself a lot of trouble that way. Feel free to leave whenever you want, but I would suggest seeing Mr. Malfoy soon, he didn't take it too well when you didn't return last night."

He left with that thought and Vaughn sighed as she got up, quickly changing into her own clothes in the bathroom, before heading down to the common room. It felt weird to see everyone staring at her, but she did her best to ignore everyone, except for a particular werewolf walking down a deserted corridor on the second floor. She sped up and called, "Professor Lupin!"

He turned and let her catch up with him, "I thought you would have known by now that I'm no longer your teacher."

"I'm a Slytherin, I don't believe things as absurd as the notion that you would resign just because people know what you are and would challenge you." Vaughn said in a superior voice.

"I find it strange that you want me to openly be what I am when you refuse to be what you are." Remus said back, and Vaughn blanched, "By the way, clever cover story, I almost believed it. Unfortunately, I knew it was a lie. I was hoping you could pass on a hello for me."

"Sure." Vaughn said softly, "I still wish you were staying. You were an awesome teacher."

"I wish I was too," Remus said sadly, and walked down the stairs and out of sight.

-

(A/N: Okay, I'm really glad I got to do this whole thing in one go, and I bet you all are happy that I made it a little longer. If you're interested, I'm writing another story called 'He Never Said Why'. Strangely, that story is constantly stealing my attention, so review and remind me to be writing IINSY too!)


	13. Summer Begins

(A/N: Sorry that it's been so long since I updated, it's been over a month. ) : Really, I'm going to try to get back into the habit of writing more often.)

Vaughn leaned against Draco's shoulder as the train was reaching it's destination. It had been quiet for a few moments as the six of them all dreaded having to leave for the summer. Vaughn opened her eyes and smirked, "Don't bite your lip, it's unbecoming."

He sighed and looked down at her, "So, you're spending the summer with who?"

"My cousin, her boyfriend, and their friend." Vaughn answered, having her answers committed to memory.

"Do you think they'd let you stay with me the last two weeks of summer?" Draco asked, "The Qudditch world cup is coming up, and my Father got three tickets, but Mother isn't all that interested in Quidditch."

Vaughn blanched, "Really? I'd have to ask them, but I'm sure I'd be able to convince them to let me go." She paused, "Two weeks?"

"You said yourself that none of them are wizards, so we could take you shopping for school supplies and then to King's Cross, save your relatives the trip." Draco asked looking hopeful, when it was just the six of them, Draco didn't hide that he adored Vaughn. Crabbe and Goyle smirked at Draco's expression, and even chuckled when Draco put his arm around her waist, causing both of them to look at them.

Vaughn glared, "Will you two either shut up or snog already?"

Needless to say, the two were silent for the rest of the trip.

**At Platform 9 ¾**

The six got off the train, and said quick good-byes before heading to their respective parents, or guardians as it was in Vaughn's case. It wasn't until this point that Vaughn realized she had no idea what the members of the Pack looked like now, though she knew that there would be three of them. She walked past the initial crowd where most of the parents were and looked along the wall. She caught the sight of three people and smiled. A mousy brown haired woman who was nervously looking around, Lynn; a woman who was slightly older with short dark brown hair, Ferret; and a tall man with black hair and a frown that could scare any Hufflepuff, Sable. Vaughn walked over to them and watched their faces change as they realized who she was.

"Well, _you've _changed." Ferret said. The statement was true enough, Vaughn had gone from a small girl who spent her time hiding to a teen who was at peace with herself. She used to wear a lot of cast offs from the Pack, but now wore a knee length skirt and dark blue t-shirt. She had usually been frowning, and now she was in front of them with a small smirk on her face.

"And you've all stayed the same," Vaughn answered, pulling her trunk behind her on a trolley. Sable took it from her, and they all started on their way to the car. Vaughn nearly frowned, "Oh, and Remus wanted me to say hi to all of you for him."

They all smiled as they got into the car, and Sable said, "I still can't believe he taught you, I never knew he was a wizard, and he was my neighbor for about five years."

"He was also a werewolf." Vaughn added, and the girls turned to her in disbelief. Sable didn't because he was driving, and to turn to look at someone in the back seat is irresponsible.

"Wait, werewolves are real too?" Lynn asked.

"Yeah, I even saw Professor Lupin transform once, though I'd prefer to not see anyone transform like that again." Vaughn said, remembering that night, "There's also Vampires, Giants, one of my teachers is half-goblin, fairies, Veelas, which make you fall in love with them, and dragons. All sorts of things you thought didn't exist."

"So will Remus be teaching you again next year?" Ferret asked.

"No," Vaughn said sadly, "People found out he was a werewolf and don't want him teaching their children. Quite sad actually, he was one of my favorite teachers."

**At the Pack's house**

Vaughn had been sorely mistaken when she assumed that the 'big house' the Pack had told her they lived in was a small three bedroom townhouse just out of London. It was a large, rustic old home with two stories that spread over a good chunk of land. She smiled as she walked in, Lynn ahead of her having unlocked the door, and Sable and Ferret dawdling behind with her trunk. The entry room that opened up into the dining room, sitting room and a room that seemed to be a library of sorts was simply decorated, as was the rest of the rooms she could see.

Lynn laughed quietly at the surprised look on her little sister's face, "Come on, let's get you settled into your room."

Vaughn followed her sister up the old mahogany stairs, the Slytherin in her noting that the seventh up squeaked. She barely registered the noise of Sable and Ferret following them up the stairs with her trunk. The upstairs was smaller than the lower floor. Sable and Ferret's respective rooms were on the left, Lynn's and her's on the left. Lynn led her to the door that had a small sign with her name on it. Vaughn turned the knob and opened the door to the room that was now hers. It was definitely a step up from her room at the orphanage.

There was a plain bed with dark bedding, a dresser, a desk and a shelf, and the few pictures left of the Pack were on her nightstand. Sable put her trunk at the end of her bed and smiled, "So, how do you like your room?"

Vaughn smiled, "It's… more than I have ever imagined calling my own. Thank you."

She then found herself being hugged by the three, being welcomed back after so many years. When they backed off, both girls were crying, but Vaughn was not. Sable pointed it out and Vaughn shrugged, "I'm a Slytherin, I don't cry so easily."

"Slytherin? How are you a Slytherin? You're a muggleborn." Ferret asked.

"Come on, it's not like I'm the first non-pureblood in Slytherin, besides, it's based on personality, not blood." Vaughn explained.

"And what have you done that's cunning, or ambitious or resourceful?" Ferret asked putting her hands on her hips, then looked at Lynn and her boyfriends' confused faces, "Those are the defining traits of a Slytherin."

"Only three people at my school know that I'm a mudblood." Vaughn said with a smirk.

Ferret was shocked, "Don't call yourself that."

"Why not? I am a mudblood." Vaughn said, completely unphased by the word, having grown immune to it's venom over the last two years.

"How have you been able to not have people question your blood?" Ferret asked, realizing she wasn't going to be able to make the girl change her mind.

"I read every book about purebloods I could get my hands on, traditions, mannerisms, how one should act, learned everything I could and was able to act it out perfectly, knowing I would be outcasted if they knew I was a mudblood." Vaughn began looking overly proud of herself, "When I was questioned as to why no one was there to see me off on the train, I said my parents were sick. When I found out you were to pick me up, I pretended that they died, and I was going to go live with my squib cousin and her two muggle friends. Everyone believed me, even my closest friends. Hell, even Remus believed my parents died before remembering I was an orphan. Now that he's gone, only the Headmaster, Deputy Headmistress and my head of house know. And I plan to keep it that way."

**Two weeks later**

Vaughn was a handful to say the least, she seemed to be getting her child hood depression back, and wasn't sleeping well due to the light. Lynn found her doing her homework with the lights off in her room in the afternoon, the sun casting plenty of light over her parchment.

"Vaughn, can we talk for a minute?" Lynn asked, sitting a few feet away on her sister's bed.

"Sure," Vaughn replied easily, corking her ink and putting her quill out of harms way before turning to face her sister.

"Are you alright? You seem a little upset." Lynn asked softly, "What's bothering you?"

"I… I miss being at school, I feel at times it's the only thing keeping me sane." Vaughn tried to explain, "I'm used to being in the dungeons where my common room is, sitting doing my homework by firelight as there's at least five different conversations going on in the room, intelligent conversations. It's too bright here, and quiet, and I don't feel like I can really talk to anyone."

Lynn's shoulder's sagged, "I'm sorry, this is my fault, I've ruined your life just like I did by bringing you out on the street when you were so young."

"Will you shut up?" Vaughn snapped, and Lynn looked up to her with watery eyes, "You think I would have been better off with some foster family? What I learned in the Pack was how to survive, how to get by when the world was against me. You can't take that back. I wasn't insane when they took me to the orphanage, I think I've figured out that something was supposed to happen to us that didn't. That's why I was so upset that day. And I'm glad to be here now, away from that orphanage that is convinced something's wrong with me. It's not your fault."

Lynn was silent for a moment before asking, "Is that your way of forgiving me?"

Vaughn hid a laugh and patted her sister on the shoulder, "It's about as close as you're going to get."

"You do need to spend time with your friends though, you're slowly deteriorating as the summer goes on." Lynn said, "Any of your friends close enough to spend the night with?"

"Well, most of them live in unplottable properties around London, but I don't think any of them are all that close." Vaughn said and then smiled, "However, I have been asked to go to a sporting match with the Malfoys and spend the last week of summer with them."

"What sport?" Lynn asked curiously.

"Quidditch." Vaughn replied, "It's a game you play while riding a broom. It's pretty fun, I'm thinking of trying out as a chaser next year."

"Hmm…" Lynn seemed hesitant, "Which of your friends is this Malfoy?"

"Draco, the blonde one." Vaughn replied getting an odd smile on her face.

Lynn had long ago realized that Vaughn seemed to have a crush on this Draco. She sighed, realizing that it wouldn't really be fair to hold Vaughn back after all these years, "Alright, you can go, but I want to meet his parents before you go over, even if it's just the morning you leave."

"Thank you!" Vaughn said and took out parchment to write to Draco, looking happier already.

**The day before the Quidditch World Cup**

"So, explain to me again how they will be coming in through the fireplace." Lynn asked again, causing her younger sister to roll her eyes.

"Magic," Was the simple answer she gave before the fire started glowing green. Vaughn sent them all a glare to remind them of the roles she had given them as the first figure emerged from the fireplace. A young teenage boy, just turned fourteen from what Vaughn had told them. He paid little attention to his surroundings as he gave Vaughn a small hug and stepped back as two more figures stepped out of the green flames. A tall aristocratic man, and his wife, both with long silver-blonde hair.

Ferret took a step towards the newcomers, holding her hand out to the oldest Malfoy, "Mr. Malfoy I presume. I'm Vaughn's cousin, Bridget."

"Pleasure to meet you, you may call me Lucius." The man said, although he was a little hesitant to shake her hand, and then motioned to his wife, "And this is Narcissa."

"Nice to meet you," Ferret said shaking hands with Narcissa as well, and motioned for Lynn to step forward, "This is Lynnette, a close family friend. My boyfriend Nigel is getting her things, and will be down in a minute."

"Thank you for inviting Vaughn along, she has been looking forward to this all summer." Lynn said respectfully as she shook their hands.

"It's no problem, we hear so much of Vaughn that she almost seems like a daughter to us." Narcissa said with a smile that looked like it had been practiced until it was perfect, though it came off as being almost unnatural.

Sable made his way downstairs with Vaughn's trunk, was introduced to the Malfoys, and then the four began to leave, Lucius going last with Vaughn's trunk.

"There's something strange about those Malfoys." Lynn said a few seconds after they had left.

"Then why did you let Vaughn go with them?" Ferret answered, having felt the same hesitance, but felt it was up to Lynn to decide whether to trust them or not.

"Because the feeling I get from them is the same weird vibe I've been getting from Vaughn all summer, and nothing bad has come of it, so it can't be too bad, right?" Lynn said shrugging.

-

(A/N: Next chapter: World Quidditch Cup, obscene over-usage of the color green, hot Bulgarian guys, deatheaters, and Lynn's last statement being proved false. Hopefully it won't take another month for me to update. Review Please!)


	14. Quidditch: Hot Bulgarian Men

Lucius and Narcissa had been a little apprehensive when they had found out who Vaughn was living with, and were unsure about meeting a squib and two muggles. However, Draco had assured them that Vaughn's cousin had grown up in a pureblood household. Upon meeting Bridget, it was obvious that she had been raised like any other pureblood would have, though she was a few years out of practice. The other two were obviously muggles.

And Vaughn, most perplexingly, looked a little more drawn than she had at the train station. She had made up some excuse about being too excited the night before to sleep well. However, it looked like she was wearing herself out. Over the day she seemed to grow to be more like herself, and by dinner she was sitting with perfect poise and using perfect manners. The two kids went to bed soon after dinner, Draco saying he had to show Vaughn where her room was, even though they all knew that she already knew where it was.

The Malfoys shared a smile when they left the room, Vaughn would probably be their daughter in-law. A perfect pureblood wife.

**Upstairs**

Vaughn and Draco were standing in front of the door to the room Vaughn was staying in, an awkward silence hanging over them. Unable to take the silence much longer, Vaughn nervously hugged Draco and said goodnight, shocked when she felt him press his lips to her forehead gently. She blushed furiously as they pulled out of the hug, "See you in the morning."

"Yeah, really early, remember. We have to leave by seven." Draco reminded her gently, "Goodnight."

Vaughn retreated into her room, closing the door gently before sliding down until she was sitting with her back to the door. _How had she been lucky enough to be friends with Draco? _She frowned, realizing that the only reason they were friends was because he believed that she was a pureblood. If he knew she was a mudblood, he would have never been her friend, and she wouldn't have a not-boyfriend who was taking her to a quidditch match and teaching her how to play chaser. If anyone found out… a tear slid down her face, which she wiped away with her sleeve. And that's why she had to be perfect.

**Orville's Orphanage for the Mentally Unwell**

Dr. Fried was up late again, flipping through page after page of notes to try to find the answer that had been bothering him for years: The Unsolved Case of Vaughn Milthorpe. He looked up as his office door opened and Ms. Jacobs stood in the doorway with a sad smile, "Looking over Milthorpe's file again?"

He nodded, "I have to be missing something here. An Orphan who lived with older children on the streets for years shouldn't be sane, yet she showed no signs, it doesn't make sense."

Ms. Jacobs leaned against his desk, "I know, she acted perfectly. It's like she wasn't even an orphan." Dr. Fried's eyes shot up at her in amazement. "What?" she asked.

"That's it!" He said in a dark voice, almost laughing, "She's perfect, that's her illness."

"I don't understand," Ms Jacobs said softly.

"It was there the whole time, how could I not have thought of it." Dr. Fried was talking like a mad man, "She's autophobic. She hates who she is, so, for her particular neurosis, she mentally berate herself and demands the opposite of herself. Her lack of symptoms is her symptom."

"So, she isn't a sociopath, like you thought earlier?" Ms Jacobs asked, after all, she wasn't the doctor here.

"Actually, it's even more likely." Dr. Fried tried to explained, "Even the autophobic can have other issues, her hatred of animals very well may be sociopathic, but it's covered up by being autophobic. She hates herself, and will do everything in her power to prove she isn't what she is. She may pretend to have parents, or respectable to counteract living on the streets. She's showing so few actual symptoms, because she's covering the others up with her self-hatred."

"Well, I'm glad that you figured it out, I know this has been bothering you, and me as well, for quite some time," Ms Jacobs said after a quiet moment, "However, she is no longer in our care, so we aren't in the power to give her any treatment."

"You don't have any contact information for her guardians.?" Dr. Fried asked.

"Her sister gave me the address and phone number belonging to an apartment in London that has recently changed occupants."

"This isn't good, her guardians deserve to know what this condition could lead to." Dr. Fried said, "Self hatred causes the person to commit suicide ninety-seven percent of the time, and always causes self-mutilation."

Ms. Jacobs sighed, "Unfortunately, there's no way to get a hold of them."

**At the Quidditch World Cup**

Vaughn was awake early that morning, surprising the Malfoys by being awake and down at breakfast as early as necessary without being woken by one of the house elves. The walk outside to the portkey point had been brisk, the boys both taking all the overnight bags as they walked. It was strange to see them all in Muggle clothes, the boys in slacks and Narcissa in a semi-casual dress, herself in a skirt and blouse. Acceptable clothing, but not at all what she was used to seeing the Malfoys wearing.

They all sneered at a ragged doll that was the portkey, but all took a hold of it as it activated. As the world spun, Vaughn found out she didn't do well with portkeys and was too busy to walk, thankful to the firm hand on her shoulder that steadied her as she walked a few steps. She looked up to see Mr. Malfoy with a straight face that screamed superiority, and molded her face to be the same. Draco had told her about this game; Malfoys are emotionless in public.

They continued walking until they got to an empty campsite where Lucius Malfoy pulled a shrunken tent bag out of his pocket and set the tent up with magic. Vaughn hadn't even been in a tent before, that she could remember, but it would have had to have been while her parents were still alive. Lucius pulled back the tent flap and motioned us inside, and Vaughn was a little shocked by the tent that distinctly reminded her of the mansion. Apparently, it wasn't hard to tell that she was surprised by this. Draco smirked, "What, never been camping before?"

"Actually, I haven't." Vaughn replied.

"Oh," He replied, fading into an awkward silence before the two were told to get settled in. Vaughn was yet again surprised she had her room, although it made sense. Why would wizards settle with muggle tents when they can make a tent that's just like home?

It was still a couple of hours until they could head down to the Quidditch Pitch, so Vaughn and Draco reverted to their favorite pastime: Origami War. The elder Malfoys both tried to read, but Lucius was soon paying more attention to the battle than the research book in his hand. He even surprised Draco by laughing when a group of Vaughn's tiny ladybugs took down his dinosaur, causing Narcissa to raise an eyebrow.

Lucius gave his approval of the game, saying it was a brilliant mix of strategy and wand practice, even asking if they could teach him how to play. Apparently Malfoys could have fun, despite popular belief.

All too soon it was time for Lucius, Draco and Vaughn to head down to the Pitch, having been promised that Narcissa would bee cooking them dinner while they were gone. The road to the pitch wound through the woods, and many were already heading down to the pitch, Ireland and Bulgaria's colors prominent throughout the crowd. Vaughn and Draco had been having fun all day: Lucius was rooting for Ireland, while both of the children wanted Bulgaria to win. After climbing an alarming amount of stairs, they found themselves in a section with their seats bordering a see of green that was bright enough it could be considered obscene. And, of course, the Golden Trio was sitting in the row in front of them.

The Weasley twins noticed them first, and one of them said, "Hey look, the Slytherins ventured out of the Dungeons."

"Look who's wearing the Slytherin colors." Draco said smirking, he and Vaughn were not wearing green while every last Weasley was.

"With their red hair, I'm surprised they're in the stands." Vaughn added, "I thought they would've had to pretend to be the leprechaun mascots just to get in."

The Weasleys turned around in a huff, and ignored them for the rest of the match. Vaughn had smacked the back of Draco's head when he had stared at the veelas a little too long for her liking, but it was nothing compared to the Weasleys' reactions. The players then flew out and Vaughn lost all expression, "Wow, who's that guy?"

"That's Krum, the seeker. Why?" Draco answered.

"He's hot."

"Vaughn!"

"What?" She asked innocently, before looking back to the Bulgarian seeker. Something in her head began buzzing, but Draco stole her attention before she could give any thought to the buzzing, and before long, it was gone, leaving a bitter feeling, and nothing else.

Ireland won, but Viktor Krum made the catch, which Draco and Vaughn decided they were okay with. There was a loud walk back to the tent, where they ate, telling Narcissa all about the match. It was dark when Lucius told them all to get ready, and walked away from the table. Vaughn looked to Draco confused. He led her to the room he was staying in and began explaining, "You know about death eaters, right?"

"Yeah, the Dark Lord's followers." Vaughn nodded.

"Well, my father was part of the Dark Lord's inner circle, and they all recently found out that the Dark Lord will be resurrected soon. Tonight a group death eaters will be showing that his followers still remain. We need to run with everyone else, so get your coat and meet me and mother in the sitting room." Draco said quickly as he pulled his cloak from his bag, Vaughn went to her room and did the same. She returned to the sitting room where Narcissa was sitting tensely and Draco was fidgeting. None of them talked as they waited for some kind of chaos to happen. It was a good twenty minutes before anything did.

A scream tore through the night, and all three of them flinched before they got up and shuffled out of the tent. They shuffled for their wands, expecting to be met with darkness, but fire lit up the sky as wizards and witches ran from the campsite, a few staying behind to try and help the victims. Vaughn caught a brief glance at the three tortured figures levitated in the air, they were the muggles that owned the campsite. Draco grabbed her arm and pulled her along as thousands of people ran into the forest. She tried to stay calm as she ran, moving her arm so they held hands as they fled. The sight of the burning tents and muggles being tortured clouded her vision for the rest of the night, she didn't even remember how she got back to the manor.

The next thing she could remember was sitting on her bed at the manor, Draco holding her cloak and her shoes. He put the shoes on the floor and her cloak on her dresser before pushing her down she was lying on the bed and tucked her in like she was a child. He sighed, "I'm sorry you had to see that, I didn't know that we'd actually see them being tortured. Goodnight."

Vaughn was asleep less than two minutes later.

-

The next morning, Vaughn got up slowly trying to remember what had happened the night before. When she did, she wasn't sure what to do: puke, cry or feel they were justified to torture them? She hated muggles, but to that extent? Her mind flicked to a nightmare she had as a child, a muggle man, who she was sure the word obese had been invented for, beating a small black haired boy. She now knew it was a vision, and it had happened. She knew muggles could be evil, and they were inferior to wizards. But how far could hatred go?

-

(A/N: Another chapter done! Next chapter: Returning to Hogwarts. What does Vaughn think of the new Defense teacher? What's up with the Tri-wizard tournament this year? And will Crabbe and Goyle finally admit that they're going out? Find out in the next chapter! Please review, I love reading them!)


	15. An Interesting Train Ride

The Quidditch World Cup was not brought up for the rest of summer break, even though Vaughn had eventually justified the torture of the muggles. Mainly, she just pretended it had never happened, though. It wasn't long before they were getting back on the train, finding Blaise and Pansy standing outside a compartment smirking, and they held a finger to their mouths to keep her and Draco quiet. They looked into the compartment to find the Vince and Gregg… Snogging?

"I thought you guys weren't together?" Draco said smiling when they finally decided they boys had enough time to themselves. The two boys couldn't manage to do anything but separate themselves a bit and blush.

"About time they snogged," Pansy said, sitting next to the boys, "You've only liked each other for two years."

"Actually, this isn't the first time." Vince said, only to get hit by Gregg.

"That's none of their business." He said sternly.

"How long have you two been going out?" Blaise asked.

"Since May," Vince answered, and his boyfriend glared at him. However, everyone else was trying to figure out how they had kept it a secret for this long. This took up a majority of the train ride.

It was a rather mundane trip to the Great Hall as well, and they noticed that the new defense teacher wasn't there yet. The Slytherins only half listened as the sorting and announcements went on until the door to the great hall opened, and as expected, the entire student body turned their heads to inspect the newcomer.

The man looked rather old, scars riddling his skin, a wooden leg and a magical eye that seemed to move on its own accord. He scouted the room with a paranoid expression, before clearing his throat to say, "Sorry I'm late, Dumbledore."

Dumbledore waved it off, "I would like to welcome our new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, Alastor Moody, an old friend and ex-auror."

The room filled with slow, unenthusiastic applause. Currently, the Weasley twins were taking bets on how long this teacher would make it. Dumbledore had one more announcement, Hogwarts would be holding the tri-wizard tournament this year. The students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons would be arriving in two months, and later that evening they found out that Durmstrang would be staying in the Slytherin dorms.

**Six Weeks Later**

"Oh, and Ms Milthorpe," Professor Moody said as he was wrapping up the class, "I'd like a word with you after class."

Vaughn silently packed her bags as the other students left, and walked up to Moody as he finished clearing the chalkboard. He barely seemed aware of her presence, "You wanted a word with me professor?"

"A few words actually," Moody said turning to face her, "You seem to hold a healthy respect for the dark arts, didn't even flinch at the killing curse." It had been the lesson on unforgivables today.

"It's better to respect and learn than to live in fear." Vaughn worded carefully, trying to let go of the fact she was completely mesmerized by the curses.

"You're a little young to stomach all three curses so well. Not particularly a good sign." He said in his gruff tone, a gentle warning, nothing more, "However, I have a more important matter to speak with you about. You're aware that Durmstrang is coming in just a couple of weeks?"

"Yes, Professor," Of course Vaughn knew, the entire castle couldn't stop talking about it.

"Well, I'm a good friend of the headmaster, Igor Karkaroff, he's asked me to pick out a couple of candidates in Slytherin to show his star pupil around Hogwarts." He looked her in the eyes with both his normal and magical eyes, "Would you be willing to do this?"

"Of course Professor," She replied, getting a suddenly odd feeling that she couldn't place.

"Good, good, now get along to your next class, can't have you being late." Moody said before turning away for her to leave. Vaughn felt unsettled at the curtness of the meeting, but didn't have time to dwell on it if she was going to be to Charms on time.

**Slytherin Common Room**

"You're going to what?" Draco said, suddenly very angry, "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"You've been busy with your classes, remember? It's not my fault I didn't get to tell you until four days after I agreed to it." Vaughn argued, "Besides, I'm just showing a student around, how bad could it be?"

"Durmstrang is a boys only school, and only their sixth and seventh years are coming over. I don't like the thought of a seventeen year old Bulgarian guy who is trained in the dark arts to be following you around." Draco said, noticing she was surprised that it was an all boys school.

"What, do you think I can't handle myself?" Vaughn challenged.

"It's not that you aren't capable of protecting yourself, its that their star student is more experienced than you in magic, and could easily decide to torture you or kill you or something."

"What the bloody hell are you talking about? This tournament is supposed to be about tying schools together and you won't even give this other school the benefit of the doubt? I'm going to show this student around whether you want me to or not, because there's nothing to fear. Besides, I can handle myself." Vaughn said before storming off to her dorm.

"Why does she have to be so naïve about everything?" Draco said crossly as he sat on the couch next to Blaise.

"She's not being entirely naïve, you're challenging her. When have you known her to back out of a challenge?" Blaise reasoned, though it did nothing for Draco's mood.

"I still think this is a bad idea."

"That's just because you love her."

Draco sat upright and glared at Blaise, " I am _not_ in love with her."

Blaise crossed his arms, "Could've fooled me. They way you act towards her, it's almost as if you're already dating."

"Well, we aren't" Draco said haughtly.

"So you've said." Blaise said in an disappointed voice.

**October 30**

The school waited outside for the visitors to arrive, most students excited. Draco however, had barely talked to Vaughn in the recent weeks, and they had fought on those rare occasions. They watched as Beauxbaton's carriage, pulled by giant flying horses, landed in front of them. The headmistress was greeted by Dumbledore as her students (all girls) wrapped in thick coats gathered around her. They rushed off following Professor Flitwick to settle in the Ravenclaw dorms, where they would be staying throughout the year. Next was Durmstrang, whose ship rose from the Black Lake. No one seemed to question how a large ship originating in Eastern Europe was able to rise through a lake in Scotland with extensive wards.

Igor Karkaroff was followed off of his ship by about twenty boys with sharp eyes, and furred hats and coats. After a curt greeting, Snape led them to Slytherin, and everyone could see that Karkaroff and Snape knew each other fairly well. Hogwarts students remained a little long to here a firm warning about treating our guests with respect before ushering everyone off so the teachers could prepare for the upcoming feast. Draco stayed with Blaise, barely noticing that Vaughn had stalked off to who knows where. However, at the feast, she and Draco were forced to sit next to each other.

"Now, before we eat, let us introduce our guests from abroad. First, the young ladies of Baeuxbatons Academy, with headmistress Madame Olympe. The girls walked in two orderly lines, uniforms that showed strong French influence. The girls sat at the end of the Ravenclaw table. Vaughn seemed a little annoyed to see Draco watch one of the blonde girls with great interest. Madame Olympe followed behind and sat to Dumbledore;s right. There was no doubt that she had some kind of creature blood in her due to her size.

"Now, for the proud sons of Durmstrang." Dumbledore announced. The boys carried staffs, and walked in an orderly manner that seemed to be practiced, and at the very end was an all too recognizable faces.

"Wow, it's Krum," Vaughn said, watching him carefully, then adding for Draco's benefit, "I hope he's the star student I'm supposed to be showing around."

Dinner was strained as Draco and Vaughn used conversations with other people to insult each other. Afterwards the Goblet of fire was explained to the three schools. Draco and Vaughn both made fun of the Gryffindors that were planning to try and get by the age line. It was the first time they had agreed on anything in a long time.

-

(A/N: Well, as always, sorry for the wait. I've had several ideas for had to do this year, and finally decided that this one would be the most fun. I hope you enjoy it!)


	16. Karkaroff is sexist!

(A/N: I'd like to apologize for the wait for this chapter. Also, I will be writing Krum's dialogue in regular speech. You may feel free to read it in your own Bulgarian accent.)

-

As she had promised, Vaughn stayed behind in the Great Hall as most students made their way to bed. She ignored Draco's final glare before leaving. Professor Moody motioned for her to come over to where he was talking to Igor Karkaroff and the Durmstrang students. She briefly noted that Viktor Krum was among those students.

"Here's the girl I was telling you about." Moody said as she approached.

Karkaroff looked down to examine her, "She is awfully young."

"Young, but clever. She's already faced a basilisk and encountered a werewolf. She could be a valuable asset, with that sharp mind of hers." Moody insisted.

Vaughn had a strange feeling that she was missing out on something, but was torn from her thoughts by Viktor Krum stepping forward and holding out his hand for her to shake. She accepted and thought he was going to break her hand with his firm grip. He didn't smile, but said, "Gosphozha* Milthorpe, I believe you will do fine as a guide for me."

Karkaroff seemed to accept his student's decision, though grudgingly, "Show them to the Slytherin rooms." The next few sentences were in fluent Bulgarian, and while the Durmstrang students understood, Vaughn did not. After the brief talk, Viktor stood by her side and motioned for her to lead. She turned and walked to her common room, wanting to look back to make sure the twenty or so older boys were following, and at the same time not. She hoped that assuming they were there was good enough.

"I apologize that our headmaster is distrustful of both Britains and witches in general." Krum said, suddenly next to her, "He was just telling us to act in a noble manner and be in the Great Hall by dawn."

"You don't have to tell me, it's none of my business," Vaughn replied softly as they entered the dungeons.

"I don't see why my headmaster insists on keeping the time we get up secretive." Krum sounded slightly annoyed, but didn't add anything more, and Vaughn couldn't think of something to say. So they walked the rest of the way in silence, other than the quiet noise of them walking through the dungeons.

"The password is Krait." Vaughn said as they arrived at the portrait hole, which opened with ease. The Bulgarians went through first, and she closed the door behind her. The common room was empty for the most part, most having gone to bed already. She pointed towards the boys' dorms, "Your beds are through there, the ones with the dark red bedding at the end."

"Why over there?" One of the Durmstrang boys asked, the others seemed curious about the answer as well.

"Because those are the boys' dorms," Apparently living in a boys only school made the idea of separate dorms alien to them, "Both boys and girls sleep in the Slytherin house, but each have their own rooms for modesty's sake."

Krum seemed to get it, and explained it quickly to the others and they separated off to go to bed, and Krum lingered, "You do not mind getting up early with us?"

"Of course not," She assured him.

"Thank you," He held her hand and kissed the top softly, more out of habit than anything else. He didn't notice Vaughn blush as he said goodnight and walked off. Vaughn smiled softly and then walked off to bed, not seeing that Draco was sitting in one of the darker corners unhappy with the scene that had unfolded before him.

**Halloween**

Viktor greeted her in the morning, and the rest of the Durmstrang students were right with him. They made their own way to the Great Hall, asking her occasionally if they were going the right way. When they got to the Great Hall, they all put their names in the Goblet of Fire in an orderly manner. There was a confidence about them, they were all sure that Krum would be the school champion. Apparently, putting their names in the cup was more of a formality.

For breakfast, she ended up sitting in the middle of the group, with Viktor on one side, and a boy named Pavel on the other. They mainly wanted to hear about the facilities that Hogwarts had: the grounds, food, teachers, students. She mentioned the quidditch pitch quickly, but they all were excited for something familiar, and began talking quidditch.

"Do you play?" Viktor asked, ignoring his schoolmates.

"I was going to be trying out for chaser this year, but quidditch is cancelled due to the triwizard tournament." Vaughn explained to him.

"I'm sorry about that." Viktor said, but she brushed him off. He didn't stop there though, "Perhaps we could go flying together sometime?"

It took a moment for Vaughn to realize that an international quidditch star had asked her to fly with him. She blushed and quickly agreed. The entirety of the Durmstrang students seemed amused by this. As they were finishing breakfast, Karkaroff came over and gave them a morning speech – in Bulgarian – then gave her a cold glare, and walked off.

"He wants us to enjoy the day, and familiarize ourselves with the grounds," Krum translated when Karkaroff was far enough away, "As well as look for our possible opponents in the tournament. He also said something derogatory towards you that I absolutely disagree with, and I do not deem worthy of being repeated."

"Okay…" Vaughn said shaking the perceived insult off, "So what do you all want to do?"

She ended up giving them a quick tour of the school, a longer tour of the grounds, and far too long explaining why the forbidden forest was forbidden. Apparently, her description closely resembled the description of one of their sixth year classes, which wasn't very helpful. The rest of their time was spent explaining their school to her, mainly how much more militaristic it was. Time passed quickly, and all too soon they had to go to dinner, which passed far too slowly because of the mere presence of the goblet of fire.

Finally, the goblet brought forth the name of the first champion, and Dumbledore announced, "The Hogwarts champion will be Cedric Diggory."

"What is Cedric like?" Vikto asked her quietly.

"He's one of our most competitive quidditch captains, but from what I've seen, he's only really good at charms." She answered as the second name came out of the cup.

"Representing Beauxbatons will be Ms. Fleur Delacour." Albus announced. The silver-haired girl stood up, exiting the Great Hall through the same side door that Cedric had used just moments before.

The third slip of paper came out of the goblet, "And representing Durmstrang, we will have Viktor Krum," The last two words were mouthed by the entire Durmstrang delegation, and Viktor had stood up even before his name was said. It wasn't a surprise to any of them. They cheered anyway, and Vaughn found herself cheering with them. Dumbledore started giving a wrap-up speech, but stopped with his mouth open when the goblet flared up again. The whole room was silent as Dumbledore caught the fourth piece of paper, "Harry Potter."

Though it was whispered, the whole room heard it, and faced the boy in question, who looked shocked to say the least. Dumbledore repeated, "Harry Potter." His housemates pushed him up and towards the door, though the whole room seemed to be confused and glaring at him. What was so special about Potter that he was able to sneak into the tournament? Which brought Vaughn into a deep discussion with her usual friends and some of the Durmstrang students. Draco and most of the Slytherins were agreeing to make and wear anti-Potter pins. Especially when Krum joined them with some choice words about Potter being allowed to participate.

Finally, the Durmstrang students went to bed, Viktor saying goodnight as he walked away, and Vaughn replying with, "Leka nosht,"

"What does that mean?" Draco asked, breaking the, so far, peaceful tone of their conversation.

"I was telling him good night in Bulgarian, they were teaching me a little while we were talking today." Vaughn replied.

"Already? You've only known them for a day."

"Why does that even matter?" Vaughn was annoyed, "Do I need your _permission_ to be friends with someone?"

"I'm only saying that they're getting too close to you too fast." Draco reasoned.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Vaughn asked, her hands on her hips.

"That means that I think Krum is trying to make a move on you." Draco said, his voice escalating to a yell.

Vaughn was speechless for a moment, "W-well, what's so wrong with that? At least he's not an over-bearing, scrawny, blonde little prick like you are."

It was Draco's turn to be speechless as she stomped into the girls' dorms. Pansy and Blaise stood with him, not quite sure about what they had heard her say. Blaise put a hand on Draco's shoulder, "Draco…"

"You were right," Draco shrugged his hand away, "I do love her."

"This is just a phase, a crush. She'll be over it soon, I promise," Pansy assured him.

**Three Weeks Later**

The usual Slytherin group, minus Vaughn, sat on the school grounds watching Vaughn and Krum flying together. They'd been studying together, talking down by the lake, and the rumor was that he had been teaching her some magic that was outside of the Hogwarts curriculum.

"Just a phase?" Draco asked Pansy, his voice was cold and hollow.

"Everyone makes mistakes," Pansy said quietly.

-

*In a traditional Bulgarian greetings, this means Ms., and is part of a formal greeting.

(A/N: … please don't kill me for not updating. The theNightElf for this chapter, because she was the one who was making up death threats for if I didn't post. Also, I am sorry for stealing your chair, theNightElf… again.)


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